CAPSTONE ESSAY

I still remember the day when I stepped into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport the very first time, everyone looked different than I normally see, every sign on the wall also looked different, and the language that I hear was different as well. I was thrilled about my new adventure in the States and I was also a young boy with full potential. But most importantly, I was scared to be away from my family and know the fact that I would be alone.

I was a person who always had to obtain what I wanted and who always wanted to have attention from other people. My life until elementary school was fine with everything but soon later, my family started encountering difficulties. When I enrolled the middle school in Korea, I realized my parents got divorced. The most sorrowful experience was that I and my brother had to choose a mother or father to live with. I heard their fight every night, and as I heard their fight, I considered myself the most miserable person in the world. I and my brother chose to live with mom.

After my parents were separated, my brother and my mom moved into my grandmother’s house. Not only living place was changed but also living conditions were changed as well. My self-centered characteristic became worse than before and I always showed my hostility to my family. Also, my mind became pessimistic and I did not share anything with my family. I did not care about other people and I even did not try to understand other people’s feelings. Even though I was being a selfish person, my mom did not give up teaching me how to respect other people and how to consider other people’s feelings first.

One day, my mother admonished me for the first time for fighting with my friends in school. She hit me with a wood stick. After she was done disciplining me, I was crying and I was full of animosity against my mother. I went to sleep and I barely remember that my mother applied ointment to the spots where she hit me. I saw her tears and I saw her callus that was on her hand due to harsh work. I felt true sorrow and I was sorry for everything for her. After that day, I tried to change myself into the person my mother always asked me to be. Certainly, my parents’ divorce not only caused me the period of resistance but also made me a more mature person

My mom was very passionate about teaching me and my brother a proper education. Back when I was in Korea, my mom sent me to three and four different private tutors. Later, my mom decided to send me to the Philippines for my English. I was in the Philippines for about a year and went back to Korea. I thought my ability to speak English became competitive but my confidence completely collapsed after speaking with one random American. Then my mom sent me to study in the United States. At that time, I was 17 years old in Korean age and 15 years old in American age.

At that time, I learned the word racism in detail. Back in Korea, not until I started attending high school in the States, I never experienced or thought about racism. Back when I was in Korea, everything I saw and everyone I talked to was Koreans. Since Korea is a monoethnic country, I never thought about the racism that I would face in the future. Attending high school in the States with so many different students who have different backgrounds and skin colors, I gradually realized that I was not the mainstream or dominant racial group anymore. Since then, I started thinking about what caused ethnic problems and how to deal with them when I confront racism.

After all the hardships, I finally enrolled at UW Bothell in 2016. After staying in the States for about 7 years, I realized that I love to live in the States rather than in Korea. Soon later, I heard a really good program that would allow me to obtain US citizenship by joining the US army. The program name was Military Accessions to the Vital National Interest(MAVNI). To me, MAVNI was believed to be my only path for my future, and the only hope that would make me live in the States. Certainly, it lured me with free school tuition, citizenship, a chance to get stationed in Korea while I would be getting a paycheck, and all other benefits. So, I decided to apply for it. After a year of a long process (body check, ASVAB test, etc.), I finally got accepted and got a shipping date for my basic training at Fort. Leonard Wood in Missouri in October of 2016. After I signed the MAVNI contract, I thought my new life in the States would be bright as stars. However, an unexpected unfortunate hit me hard. As I mentioned earlier, I was an international student who must have a valid visa and I-20 to stay legally in the States but my shipping date to basic training overlapped with my fall quarter. So, I needed to decide whether take the fall quarter to maintain valid student status or not take the fall quarter and give up valid student status. I chose not to take the fall quarter without knowing my future and the main reason why I chose not to take the fall quarter was once I ship to basic training; I would be getting US citizenship anyway. However, my shipping date was postponed to January of 2017 and that delay made my status illegal resident in the States. I was scared and insecure. What I could do was just wait until I ship to basic training. However, my shipping date was again delayed to august of 2017, and august 2017 to undecided. All of sudden, I became an illegal resident without knowing when I would be shipped to basic training. Up until recently, I was an illegal resident and still, there was no update on my shipping date. My contract was from October 2016 to sometime in 2020. So, I wasted my four years, waiting for a new shipping date and there was nothing I could do. Luckily, my status got back to legal and now I am back to school. I am super glad that I could continue my academic journey at the University of Washington. I still remember myself as a young adult who did not have any idea what career I wanted to pursue but now with all the hardships, my dream became crystal clear. By taking classes from the School of IAS, I realize that Diversity and Equity is the most impactful learning objective among the five: Collaboration and Shared Leadership, Critical and Creative Thinking, Interdisciplinary Research, and Inquiry, and Writing and Communication. Based on my experience of being undocumented status, I realized that once a person's perception is misrecognized, it is difficult to change that perception. For instance, I used to blame and look down on illegal immigrants because I thought and believed they broke the law just for their benefit. However, once I lost my legal status, I realized that I lived my life full of biases against illegal immigrants. BISAES 367 was a significant course to me because it taught me about the history of U.S. immigration policy and how uncountable innocent people’s status were affected based on their race and ethnicity. By learning the history of U.S. immigration, I learned diversity and equity can produce innovation, creativity, participation, collaboration, and good results, which are essential elements of successful workplaces in a world where competition becomes more complex and competitive.

            Another learning objective that I believe has an impact on my learning journey at UWB is Critical and Creative Thinking. It triggered my new way to analyze the issues with no biases and gained a new ability to look closely at what surrounds me rather than believe in what I see. Especially, BIS 265, Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies has shaped me to be a more critical and creative thinker. As I read “Critical Race Theory” from BIS 265, I learned that racism is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people. Of course, I knew racism has been a serious societal problem in the States but did not know that racism was rooted deeply in education, law, economics, and politics. Furthermore, BIS 232 also helped me to shape my understanding of being critical and a creative thinker. By learning how data is becoming significant to our daily lives, I realized that Without data analysis, visualization, calculation tools, and theories, information that can fuel changes in discovery, insight, and paradigm is as broad and incomprehensible as the sea before navigation developed. This class is the most significant class that I ever took in UWB because I decided to pursue my career as a data analyst after taking this class.

            After all the obstacles, my graduation date is finally approaching and I am so grateful about how my academic journey at UWB not only helped me to become a successful young scholar but also shaped me to become a more mature person. Now, I am ready to begin a new journey where I can combine my lived experience and learning experiences from UWB. “A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chose that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.” By Graham Greene.