Olivia

He was very paternal to me in a lot of ways.

Whenever we first met, it felt like he was a very strong mentor in my life.

I did.

We were very close from the second that I got there.

We would have these majors meetings where all of the people in the department, we would come together.

We would talk about stuff going on on campus, stuff happening in the department.

At my first one, there was a senior that he loved, had a wonderful relationship with, and he

had that senior approach me and begin to mentor me.

And that student and other students you were close to were like, you're Kato's new girl, meaning that I was gonna be like the kid that he cast and everything.

I remember, I think it was that day, getting a text from Kato.

He had either asked for my phone number or given me his, I don't remember.

He had said something along the lines of, you know, I hope this is OK.

I really want us to be close and to work with you while you're here.

And I didn't really clock that that was weird when it happened.

I mean, obviously, it is very weird and inappropriate.

It just very much seemed like he cared about me.

He wanted me to be successful and I didn't.

have family there, I had moved to a new state.

And I was looking for that support in any way that I could get it.

He continued to find opportunities to give me little nudges, like he would invite me to his office to read the script that he was going to do for the next year that none of the other kids knew about.