For 82-year-old Esther Nozaki Hashimoto, the annual alumni weekend at Mountain View Academy is a family affair. Her daughter graduated in 1977 and her 16-year-old grandson just completed his sophomore year. For more than six decades, she has been a faithful and active alumnus even though she had not been allowed to complete her high school years there or graduate with her classmates.

On April 14, 2007, a surprised Hashimoto received her high school diploma from Mountain View Academy, officially joining the class of 1943. The actual diploma, complete with the appropriate signatures, was presented to her by Principal Dan Meidinger and Doug Sumarage, school board chair. The special ceremony included a cap and gown for the graduate.

The Hashimoto family of five, along with nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans, had been moved to internment camps during World War II. Her pastor father had started the first Japanese Adventist church in Mountain View in 1926.

It was at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming that Hashimoto received her high school certificate. “They took care of us. There was food, clothing and education,” she says, noting the camp also provided safety from angry Americans. Though the only Asian-American at the academy, Hashimoto says she never felt different. “I always felt accepted.” The war changed that.

“We took this opportunity to recognize that this should have never happened,” says Rita Hoshino, academy alum (class of ’73) and new development director. Hoshino was brought up knowing the story of interment camps. Her aunt had shared her experiences with Hoshino’s classmates her senior year.

It was a phone call to the academy’s registrar from another internee requesting a diploma that sparked the research. Hoshino discovered that others, a little younger than Hashimoto, had returned to their academies in time to graduate. “Esther was on the cusp and was not allowed out of the camp,” she explains. She also found and scanned an original 1943 diploma from the academy.

Working with Lori Hashimoto Smeenge, Hashimoto’s daughter and alum from of the class of ’77, the surprise ceremony included a cake and presents. Mountain View City Councilwoman Margaret Abe-Koga presented Hashimoto with a certificate of recognition on behalf of the council and Mayor Laura Macias. (The United States government has apologized for the treatment of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II.)

Hashimoto, who is known for her generosity, quietly avoids attention and doesn’t think she deserves the recognition. “I realize this is only a small gesture, but I think Esther definitely knows that she is an official grad of Mountain View Academy,” Hoshino says. “We plan to take pictures of her, in cap and gown, with this year’s graduating class.”