Allow me to be my own apologist. I haven’t done myself justice.
Every day, I struggle with frustration at myself. Do you know how it feels to have “potential” pumping through your veins, pulsing through your ears, gnawing away at your heart until you nearly burst out in fury?I do. It drives me insane...
My aunt is one of those people who is obsessed with strange psychological quizzes and made me take many of them when I was in primary school. She wasn’t surprised at all that my naturalist side stood out, because my intimacy with dogs that live on the streets and my enthusiasm in trying to catch lizards or frogs whenever I could were not hard to notice...
There isn’t a single event that has affected me more in my life than my father's illness. Growing up I was attached to my dad’s hip; I was the definition of “Daddy’s little girl.” Unfortunately, this picture-perfect reality was turned upside-down the summer of 2008 when my dad was admitted to a mental facility...
My career as a salesman began in 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. In the months leading up to the annual cocktail night for parents, we students were given the responsibility to sell raffle tickets. This was incentivized by an iPod being the reward for selling the most tickets. Selling my first ticket to a complete stranger outside the local supermarket was nerve-racking. It was a month since I had moved to Japan from Paris and I could hardly communicate in Japanese...
“If two trains leave stations 500 miles apart, going towards each other and train A is going 50 mph and train B is going 75 mph, how far away is A from its station when they meet?” my grandfather asked as we hiked. I considered for a moment before replying, “Um…I don’t know?” This answer would not suffice, however. “Well, think about it,” he replied. I wanted to argue, complain that I was only eight, and could hardly add double-digit numbers in my head...
In 2008, Engineers Without Borders published its first annual failure report to highlight the errors its volunteers had made and what these errors had taught them. This non-profit organization is encouraging a culture of transparency and honest evaluation that is much needed in the global development sector. Following their courageous lead, I present to you an excerpt from the extensive Michael Kim Failure Report (1995-2012) illustrating my most personal failures and the accompanying lessons I have learned...
Jay Gatsby is the most important person in the history of American Literature and the most important person in the book that has influenced me the most, even though I completely disagree with his methods to acquire currency. When I read the book for school, simply put I thought The Great Gatsby was awful and I hated the book...
Standing on the stage in front of the hushed crowd, stage fright consumes my body and fear pumps through my veins, but suddenly an angelic voice, singing in an unrecognizable language, captivates my soul. At the same time I gaze down at myself, dressed in a soft blue dress, a white apron drapes from my waist and a matching handkerchief wraps my neck. Traditional beaded earrings dangle from my ears and a blue and white beaded medallion adorns my neck. I see the white moccasins on my feet and I understand...
In high school, I have become increasingly aware that my community is both local and global. I have had two experiences in particular that have made this tangible to me.
As an intern in a genetics lab at the California Academy of Sciences, I had the opportunity to design my own research project. I decided to focus my study on the practice of shark finning, which kills an estimated 200,000 sharks daily due to the demand for shark fin soup...
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