Yá’át’ééh, Shí éí Kaori John yinishyé. Hello, My name is Kaori John and I am currently an undergraduate at The University of New Mexico. As a Diné student at UNM, my culture holds a large impact on my decision to continue my higher education. Growing up, I was on and off the Navajo Nation and mainly grew up in the city. Fortunately, I was able to learn about my culture and the traditional values, but I did not have the ability to learn the language as much as I wanted to. This impacted me greatly and I noticed there was part of the experience as a Native American student that lacked compared to my other peers that knew their native language. However, there was a specific moment in my life that inspired me to reach my goal of becoming a Diné language speaker. This moment occurred when I was in my teenage years and I met my father’s side of the family. I had to make conversation with my great-grandma and unfortunately, there was large communication barrier between us. One of us spoke English and the other only spoke Navajo. This conversation was difficult to understand and I could not speak until I had another person, my father, to translate what we both spoke to each other. It was already a busy event that day and it required everyone present to help set up and organize, so I was already creating an environment that was difficult to work with. After the 'conversation', I noticed how everyone around me spoke a language I should have known and should have learned. However, from this experience, I grew passionate and had a drive to learn Navajo. At first, it was difficult to ask my parents to teach me, due to different schedules and many obligations from both sides, but I was able to teach myself small amounts at a time. With this newfound passion, I changed my goals from a political career to a career where I work closely with my community. This experience changed my career desire and allowed me to go to UNM and declare my nursing major with a minor in the Navajo language. With this change, I have become closer to my community through volunteer work and I have also been able to communicate better with the community as whole. I enjoy talking to other Diné language speakers through Navajo and have my goals set on breaking that language barrier.

My favorite K-pop group is BTS and they have made a very impact on not just my wallet but also my motivations in my life. I have been a long-term fan of BTS since 2014, so I have heard most of their music as well as seen them expand internationally. I rarely took notice of how hard they worked until they started uploading behind the scenes (bangtan bombs) of them performing or when they dropped their documentary about their success. However, with the learning of their success and seeing how hard they worked for their passion, it made me decide to pursue my passions in a similar way. I have a passion for helping others, regardless of how difficult it may be. This passion was largely motivated by many important figures in my life, as well BTS being one of the main ones who have influenced me, and because of seeing how hard working motivated they were during their hardest times, I was influenced that if they could make it through, I could as well. Seeing as young as Jungkook was debuting, I realized that I could also pursue my passion of helping others, knowing how hard the road was going to be ahead. Moreover, a song that definitely helped me (and is still currently helping me through college) is the hidden track "path" as it tells their rocky road to fame and the hardships of their passion. I also believe that their widespread fame has led other fans of this genre to engage with others in a very cheerful community. The BTS community, from my experience, is very cheerful and optimistic when it comes to friendships and engaging. This community not only provides fun events, but also focuses on the awareness of global events. For instance, when ARMYs came together to shine light on child victims in Tanzania through one of the member's donation or when the ARMY community come together in small groups to help give back to their own communities or communities in need for the celebration of a member's birthday or for a comeback. Additionally, they may help other groups and communities, they also promote self-love to their own community. The ARMYs often hold a #SELCADAY where they share a photo of themselves and their bias and I believe that this event helps fans love themselves even if they may not. Other fans of the community will hype up or spread kindness through this event to make everyone feel loved or feel happy. The BTS ARMY is a community I will never forget nor leave as it has impacted my life positively as well as communities around the world. BTS's impact is very effective as it has reached over internationally and has touched the hearts of many. They are my favorite K-pop group because of their donations and awareness of global events and also because of how they have inspired fans to truly love themselves and everyone around them. I continue to look forward to their music and efforts by both the band themselves and the community supporting the band. Also, please view the lyrics of my favorite song to understand why I resonate with it.

Hello, I am Kaori John and I currently have two large, lovable dogs. I have been with them for the past four years since they were puppies. My dad and younger sister had gotten my dogs from a family friend on the Navajo Nation reservation. When they first found them, they were very dusty and were competitive for food. I remember a video being sent by my father to my mother and among the litter, we noticed one of them had a tail with a white tip, we compared it to a candle wick. When my sister and father came back from the trip to the reservation, we noticed there was another puppy with them. My mom had named the one with the candle-wick tail Opie and my sister named the other puppy, who was the oldest of the litter, Borky. Opie got his name from a Sons of Anarchy character that my mom thinks is a cool character. However, Borky got his name when my younger sister was in fifth grade and she decided to name him after an onomatopoeia. I thought of a different name, but I don't think I could call them by any other name now. I am very close to both of my dogs as I took care of them almost as much as my siblings did and this led to a very sibling-like relationship stemming from it. My dog's role in my life is more of a sibling role than an owner-pet role. I look at it this way because we act similarly to how my actual siblings' act. We like to tease each other and make odd faces at each other, as well as, play with each other. Both of my dogs act like younger brothers to me, begging me for things I have no money for, blaming me for something that I did not do, or speaking back to me when I ask them to do something. Most of the time they like to bully me by tripping me around the house or suddenly jumping on me when I try to dance with them. However, with all of these little things that they do with me, there are moments where we have happy moments and it is not about them coming to me for a purpose. When I had gotten my acceptance letter to New Mexico, I was so ecstatic that I started jumping up with Borky and celebrating with him and he just joined me. I appreciate their role as younger brothers because it makes me feel more familiar to treat them as such, rather than just teaching them to do things that I order them to do. It makes life more enjoyable knowing I have someone beside me as family, rather than someone at my beck and call.