{"id":29308,"date":"2026-08-07T18:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T09:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?p=29308"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T09:06:41","slug":"sij-talks-your-roots-your-strength-by-salaidh-harvard25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308","title":{"rendered":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29309\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-p2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For my cultural exchange, I wanted students to walk away with the reminder that regardless of where they go in the world and in their careers, they should always aim to carry their background and culture with them. I aimed to emphasize to students that their roots are not holding them back, but are what allows them to go far and thrive. I shared my personal experience growing up with Japanese culture in my hometown of Gardena, CA, and how Harvard (ironically) helped me tremendously reconnect with my Mexican background: my time there exposed me to other Latino students with similar aspirations and dreams. I hope students walked away feeling what I learned during my time at Harvard: that its okay to be proud of where you come!<br>\u2014 Salaidh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For my cultural exchange, I wanted students to walk away with the reminder that regardless of where they go in [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308\">Read More&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> from SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?p=29308","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","en-US"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard&#039;25) - Summer in JAPAN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard&#039;25) - Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For my cultural exchange, I wanted students to walk away with the reminder that regardless of where they go in [...]Read More... from SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\"},\"headline\":\"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308\"},\"wordCount\":139,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308\",\"name\":\"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg\",\"width\":1680,\"height\":1165},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29308#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"description\":\"\u30cf\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u30c9\u751f\u3068\u5b66\u3076\u82f1\u8a9e\u30b5\u30de\u30fc\u30b9\u30af\u30fc\u30eb\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\",\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Summer in JAPAN\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/archives\\\/author\\\/sijuser\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","og_description":"For my cultural exchange, I wanted students to walk away with the reminder that regardless of where they go in [...]Read More... from SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)","og_url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308","og_site_name":"Summer in JAPAN","article_published_time":"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1680,"height":1165,"url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Summer in JAPAN","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Summer in JAPAN","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308"},"author":{"name":"Summer in JAPAN","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5"},"headline":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)","datePublished":"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308"},"wordCount":139,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg","articleSection":["\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308","name":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-07T09:06:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T09:06:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salaidh-CE-cover-scaled-e1786093586555.jpg","width":1680,"height":1165},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29308#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SIJ Talks: Your Roots. Your Strength. ( by Salaidh &#8211; Harvard&#8217;25)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/","name":"Summer in JAPAN","description":"\u30cf\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u30c9\u751f\u3068\u5b66\u3076\u82f1\u8a9e\u30b5\u30de\u30fc\u30b9\u30af\u30fc\u30eb","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5","name":"Summer in JAPAN","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Summer in JAPAN"},"url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/archives\/author\/sijuser"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29312,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29308\/revisions\/29312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}