For as long as I can remember, I have always been acquainted with my Korean heritage throughout my life. Whether it was through my mother who always spoke to my siblings and I in Korean, celebrating Korean New Year with my relatives, or embracing Korean cuisine when my grandparents visited and made their delicious kalbi. However, my connection with my Korean heritage was put to the test and was put into great importance when I entered middle school. When I was in middle school, I recall experiencing a lack of general respect from my peers due to my Korean identity. I recall getting teased for being Korean during class, lunch, and even when walking back home. I was mocked for being different and bringing in food that was different from the societal "norm". Due to this treatment, I became uncomfortable and would try to hide my heritage. I refused to bring Korean food to lunch and even mocked myself to try and fit in. However, as I got older and met new people, those with different perspectives, identities, and backgrounds, I discovered those (close friends, peers, and teachers) who gave me the respect and understanding that embodies the definition of “social justice.” I eventually opened up to these trusted individuals and talked about my heritage openly, discussing my culture and the Korean language with my friends, something that took time to personally not only get used to but to also become proud of my heritage. I even chose to make my IB MYP Project, a year-long rigorous project focused on a student's passion, for cooking traditional Korean dishes. By the time I reached senior year, I fully embraced and promoted my Korean culture at school even becoming a leading organizer of my school's Asian Student Organization, a very fun and memorable experience where I collaborated with many individuals sharing my cultural identity. My dedication to learning and respecting my culture is still an ongoing part of my identity as I am currently learning the Korean language and am even attempting to take an abroad semester at a Korean satellite campus for my sophomore college year to become even more familiar with Korean culture. After my experiences with mistreatment, I anticipate being more expressive of my culture and being supportive of other cultures as my time during middle school made me learn how uncomfortable it is to have one’s identity being used as a source for mockery and disrespect and intend to uphold and promote my Korean heritage for not just my upcoming time at university, but also the rest of my life. As I am beginning my college journey, I have a primary goal for university and that is to complete a bachelor's degree in computer science at George Mason University. I would like to use that degree to pursue my life-long goal of obtaining a career within the video game industry, a way that I believe would positively impact the world. I believe that video games are a source of entertainment media that can positively impact communities by making players develop team-building, creativity, and puzzle-solving skills. In fact, a lot of the previously mentioned trusted friends and individuals who helped build up my personal confidence in my own Korean heritage were befriended due to collaborating together over video games. Because of my personal beliefs on the positive effects of video games, as well as knowing that video games can help establish relationships and positive communities, I wish to positively impact the world by working in the video game industry.

I am inspired to help my community because it is the place where I and the people I care for such as my friends, family, and other loved ones reside and it is our civic duty to make sure we try our best to make our home and local communities as welcoming and safe for us and others as possible. Another reason I am quite inspired to assist my community is because of my membership with the Boy Scouts which allowed me to have served my local community for the past nine years. Over the years, I have assisted with canned good food drives, cleaned local parks, and have participated in a numerous amount of service projects through my membership with the Boy Scouts. However, the contribution that I am most proud of is when I assisted my Boy Scout troop in constructing a walking path in a wooded recreational area in my neighborhood. I hold this contribution highly because this project positively impacted the lives of my local neighbors and family, people dear to me. Another major example of assisting my local community was when I helped build playgrounds for two different churches with my troop that were within my local community. Creating these playgrounds helped create a safe and enjoyable environment for the kids of the community to play in and this is another positive change that I accomplished and am very proud of. My dedication to assisting various organizations within my school also showcases my ability to strive for change within my local community. An example of this can be seen when I assisted my school's music department during my middle school and senior years. I assisted with several fundraisers to help reduce the costs of several field trips that the music departments had planned for the year. I helped the department by going around the local neighborhoods and promoting to each house about our school fundraiser to help with our field trips and extracurricular activities. I also helped organize and prepare to ship the pies that were purchased for the fundraiser during afterschool hours. Another organization I helped assist is with my computer science club. Our club planned a "hackathon" which was a coding event that connected people from across the globe virtually so they could partcipate. I was assigned to help promote the event around the school, online through social media, as well as reaching out to other schools within our district. My duties also included volunteering to help assist and coordinate the actual event, which led to me managing my own scheduled program when we hosted the hackathon. My contributions to this event helped postively affect not only my local community, but allowed for individuals living outside of the country to participate, collbarate, and learn through this hackathon. My involvement within these two organizations have massively inspired me to get more involved and assist my community in any way I can. My contributions to the community can also be seen through my logged service hours. With over fifty hours logged, I have earned both the Service Learning Cord and the Civics Seal which shows my dedication to helping change the community. Through my time with the scouts and my school organizations, I learned the importance of community service and I will make sure to continue contributing to my local communities as I begin the next chapter in life.