In Korean, there is a hard-to-translate word called nunchi (눈치). Simply put, it is the art of understanding what people are thinking and feeling. For example, an ability to “read the room”, not saying something awkward or behaving according to social norms in a specific situation. Since moving to California six years ago, I have utilized nunchi in nearly every interaction I have been in and having this ability to “take a hint” is a part of my identity. When I worked as a therapist for children and adults with disabilities, I used to help a client who engaged in property destruction behaviors: punching the wall, throwing objects, and attempting to destroy household items like the TV. Since they were nonverbal and had difficulty expressing their feelings, these behaviors could happen suddenly and without warning. Often, I would try to “read the room”, observing their body language and emotions so that I could prevent or intervene should they attempt to destroy something. I also silenced my voice and adopted a softer tone of voice when speaking with my clients. I identify with many aspects of my Korean culture including my love for meals with the centerpiece of rice, but this Korean concept of “reading the room” and smoothly adapting to social situations is the most meaningful to me. I was first introduced to the idea of Asian American studies while I was working as a research assistant for a graduate student’s dissertation in college. Initially, I was recruited for the study because I was relatively fluent in Korean as the study was about understanding similarities and differences between Korean American and European American identifying families when completing an activity together. One of my tasks was to work with my team to code 88 transcriptions of conversations between mother and child pairs according to predefined criteria. Looking at the transcriptions, I noticed subtle differences between Korean and European American families in how they approached completing the activity which I thought was fascinating. I ended up working in this team for over two years; being one of the first research assistants hired and committing to the work until the completion of the study years later. This experience cultivated my interest in potentially conducting my own cross-cultural research with AAPI participants in the future, as most academic research is still very Eurocentric, benefitting certain groups more than others. There is a need to conduct experiments and reimagine past studies with diverse participants to understand a constantly diversifying world. At the start of the global pandemic, I traveled 400 miles to San Jose, California, to work full-time as a City Year AmeriCorps mentor, serving a diverse high school community (with 80% Latinx students and 9% Asian students) for a year of distance learning. Although my primary responsibility was to tutor students in subjects such as English, I also maintained a schedule of regular check-ins with students to address essential socio-emotional and developmental needs. I listened to any personal difficulties students experienced with virtual schooling and expressed sympathy and understanding for their struggles. Additionally, I initiated a pen pal program, allowing students the chance to build their own communal support systems. During my time as AmeriCorps mentor, I displayed service excellence and human development by doing more to support students’ social-emotional needs during a very difficult school year. While working as an AmeriCorps mentor, I realized that I am most driven when I am supporting diverse students through challenges and desired to become a school counselor. Now I am working on my Master of Science in School Counseling at California State University, Sacramento. As I learn to become a school counselor, I aim to get involved with the studies that my professors are conducting to do more research for the AAPI community. After earning my degree, I aspire to work as a counselor at a Title I high school in California, improving access to post-secondary education for students from diverse backgrounds and providing compassionate and social justice-oriented support to many students.

In college, I was fortunate enough to meet someone who I consider a lifelong friend. We had initially met as coworkers but left as best friends who depended on one another for the rest of college. At one point, I noticed that her birthday was coming up soon. I never experienced a birthday where someone who is not family sincerely went out of their way to show their love for me and make my birthday special. However, I decided I would go out of my way to prepare something special for my friend’s birthday. I am not a cook, but I decided to stay up the night before her birthday to make fried chicken Cajun style as I knew she would enjoy it. The most complicated thing I cooked before was fried rice, but I wanted to push myself to do something special for my friend. Although I struggled a lot that night, continuously producing chicken that wasn’t quite cooked enough and the actual frying process taking much longer than I expected, I was content because it was all for my friend. While this was all happening, I also invited a few of her other friends to hang out with her for her whole birthday. The kitchen was a tragic mess by the end, but I finished cooking in time. The following day, we all met up at my friend’s apartment, ate some delicious fried chicken together, watched a few scary movies, and slept over at her place. I didn’t do all this because I expected my friend to do the same for me, but I wanted to show her that I love her, that I value our friendship, and I’m happier for it.