Anata no tsuitachi wa dōdeshita?

I watch as the Japanese club immerses into a conversation in the corners of a hallway. Each word, none I can make out, transcends audible barriers, and for a moment I feel pure joy. Each member, so integrated in the conversation, embraces the beauty of Japanese culture, and for a moment I think of how alluring it would be to be a part of this club. 

As the members part ways, the magic created mere seconds before dissipates into the dense halls of Coppell High School. Senior Japanese Club president Amav Khambete emerges from the close knit circle, and I still sense the faint aura of community, culture and cordiality radiating from him. That is the effect of Khambete: wrapping individuals into a place where they can wholly be themselves. 

Khambete continues to walk through the hall, and every few seconds he raises his hand to wave to peers. Each wave ends with a subsequent smile from its recipient, and I recognize Khambete’s boundless energy.

It is not just energy that comes inexhaustible to Khambete: his grounded passion, intellectual curiosity and ever-present smile teems from an endless beam of light. 

When I interview Khambete days after the Japanese Club meeting, he explains his ongoing journey with Japanese commenced from a simple trip to Japan.

“In eighth grade, I went to Japan, and I fell in love with the culture,” Khambete said. “I started self-studying [through Duolingo] in Japanese.”

He jokes that the Duolingo noises annoyed his friends, and I cannot help but admire how a simple love for Japanese culture propelled Khambete’s self-learning of the language.

“When I self-studied, there wasn’t a lot of practice with using the language,” Khambete said. “I formed a club at school to change how I understand Japanese, so now I focus on implementing what I already know. It went from Duolingo to more communication-offered studying like talking with people on the phone or through the club in Japanese.”

Khambete observes how the communication-oriented nature of his current process helps attribute memories to his learning process, and I notice his inherent integration of science into his everyday life. 

As Khambete explains his favorite Japanese proverb,“Ishin Den Shin,” which translates to heart-to-heart communication, he laughs at the irony of his favorite proverb in Japanese being about communication.

“If you really understand someone and how they understand the world, you don’t need language,” Khambete said. “Heart-to-heart communication is a [silent] understanding you have. The point of language is to connect you with other people but you do not even need language when you know them well enough.”

Khambete’s inherent curiosity for all things is showcased in more than just his propensity to pursue Japanese, whether that be in maintaining a garden or conducting research.

“He doesn’t shy away from those things that he’s curious about,” CHS physics teacher Stephanie Sloane said. “He mentioned during remote learning that he had a garden.”

Sloane initially imagined a square of land with a couple flowers.

“No, it’s like the whole back corner of his backyard, probably as much real estate as his parents will let him,” Sloane said. “He loves to garden. I’m impressed by that because I have killed everything I try to grow.”

On an intangible level, the roots of Khambete’s curiosity grow deep and wide, bearing fruits of pedagogy wherever he plants his seeds. This summer, Khambete’s intellectual vigor drove him to apply to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center STARS program.

“I took many science classes – AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Chemistry – my junior year,” Khambete said. “At the end of my [junior] grade year, I was looking for ways to apply my knowledge because knowledge is useless until you apply it.”

Khambete found research as an outlet to cultivate the knowledge he learned in an educational setting, satiating his intense curiosity for science.

“As scientists, we always want to pursue the why,” CHS biology teacher Dr. Bianca Benitez said. “Why are things happening? [Khambete] very much takes that to heart. It’s not something that he merely talks about, and it’s something that he wants to do.”

Despite the initial learning curve, Khambete’s inestimable passion for his research made the process an exciting venture.

“My research picked up around July, and it started to get fun because different parts of the lab were coming together,” Khambete said. “I was able to apply what I learned in school and what I was learning at that time in the experiments I was doing. I realized that there is always something to be curious about in research, some anomaly to investigate.”

Khambete’s work in the laboratory on the effect of novel drugs on ephrin protein interactions for pain inhibition on mice, though commencing as a summer project, has grown to become much more.

In January, Khambete was announced as one among 300 students as a Regeneron Talent Search Scholar. As he explains his project to me, I sense that presenting the project is not a new feat to him. Every question I ask takes him to a new lecture, imparting me with knowledge on chronic pain I would never have known. 

Khambete is the intersection of multiple facets, each carefully crafted to complement his character. I know that the sapling of curiosity he has planted in his high school is only the beginning. With Khambete, there is always more to grow from. 

Follow Anushree De (@anushree_night) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.