Born in Chicago, IL and having moved twelve times during childhood, I experienced various cultures and school systems. I have fostered my passion for event planning and student government. I saw the events I created, such as multicultural nights and school drives, as avenues to improve inclusivity for new or international students coming to our school. Through my experiences of witnessing new international and transfer students be welcomed through these events, I grew an appreciation for various cultures. At college, I'm most thrilled with the peers and friends I'll be able to make-people from a wide range of countries, backgrounds, and values. During my mission trips to different cities in New Jersey, Kensington, Baltimore, Paterson, and Laos, I taught English, and the joy on my students' faces was indescribable. Their eyes lit up, and their hands shot up in the air, eager to learn. Even when I was a foreigner in Laos, my students welcomed me with open arms, enthusiastic to share their experiences and stories with me. These experiences have enabled me to see the beauty in life as it is, not colored by societal pressures. The interactions I encounter and the stories I have the chance to listen to inspire me to use my knowledge and experiences to make the world better for others. In college, I hope to gain a tight-knit community of friends where we can learn from one another and widen our perspectives. While excelling at school academically and taking care of my well-being comes with actively prioritizing my health, I learned that having an accountability partner who also wants to be a healthier and better version of themselves keeps the process going long-term. I learned the importance of having this mentality of striving to be healthy and strong rather than fit during my junior year of high school. During junior year, I deserted to spicy noodles to relieve my stress. As a result, not only did my face begin to break out, but my body felt heavier, and I became more easily irritated. I learned the significance of self-love first. I changed my mindset into thinking I wanted to become healthier rather than fit a specific image of what society deems beautiful. I wanted to get stronger and test my limits regarding lifting and running. Over time, this mentality enabled me not only to see a physical transformation of returning to my healthy self but also to change the spirit inside of me. I grew more patient towards my loved ones, willing to go above and beyond for those around me. It also made me appreciate healthy food that nourishes and refuels my body. I no longer was the stressed junior who resorted to spicy bulk noodles and ramen whenever she felt stressed, but I began to love cooking healthy food that makes me feel energized and alive. These changes took trial and error of what was sustainable, but ultimately, I found that it's essential to stay healthy: to love myself and better serve those around me.

“Catch Sharon!” As a young girl who has moved over twelve times during her childhood, adapting to new schools and cultures became the new normal. Not only did this make me versatile and open to making new friends, but I also was highly active since, during recess, I was constantly playing with my friends and competing with my guy friends. As a result, I used to think I had a fast metabolism because of the endurance and stamina I built over the years, but this all crashed during my junior year in high school. With students from all four elementary schools combined, I was no longer the most athletic girl in school and was judged when learning a new sport: tennis. Not only was I unable to control my strength in tennis, but my upperclassmen constantly put me down with no one passing me the ball because they knew I couldn’t hit it back. The increasing low self-confidence and anxiety from maintaining my academics led to endless stress eating. Whenever I returned from tennis practice, I felt discouraged and worthless in my ability to do anything right. On top of my tennis practices, I was also getting stressed from the four AP classes I took in high school. Not only were two of my teachers notorious for being the most challenging teachers in high school, but the workload they provided was not easily manageable. As a result, I would also eat late-night snacks and stuff my face with whatever I craved because I no longer cared about myself. As a child, I did not mind what other people thought of how I looked on the outside and more focused on the person I was on the inside. However, this led to a maze trap of me thinking that because I did not care whether I gained weight from food, I ate whatever I wanted and would eat until my belly exploded. Ultimately, this led me to gain over twenty pounds, and I was disgusted with how my face looked and the thickness of my arms and thighs. I began to receive comments from adults who said, “Sharon, a girl should not be over 120 pounds.” This made me more self-conscious wherever I looked in the mirror, so I decided to work out to lose weight. Over time, however, my motivation to work made me desert my initial value that what I looked at inside did not matter. More so, I had to give myself self-love first. I changed my mindset into thinking I wanted to become healthier rather than fit a specific image of what society deems beautiful. I wanted to get stronger and test my limits regarding lifting and running. Over time, this mentality enabled me not only to see a physical transformation of returning to my healthy self but also to change the spirit inside of me. I grew more patient towards my loved ones, willing to go above and beyond for those around me. It also made me appreciate healthy food that nourishes and refuels my body. I no longer was the stressed junior who resorted to spicy bulk noodles and ramen whenever she felt stressed, but I began to love cooking healthy food that makes me feel energized and alive. These changes took trial and error of what was sustainable, but ultimately, I found that it’s essential to stay healthy: to love myself and better serve those around me.

I have been teaching in one form or another for over a decade now. Whether I am teaching literacy through BergenReads, leading Bible classes, or teaching low-income students like myself, my goal is to empower underserved communities. While volunteering in New Jersey, Kensington, Baltimore, and Laos, I taught English, and the joy on my students' faces was indescribable. Their eyes lit up, and their hands shot up in the air, eager to learn. Even when I was a foreigner in Laos, my students welcomed me with open arms, enthusiastic to share their experiences and stories with me. As they spoke, I imagined a future Laos with better welfare, education, and infrastructure. It became clear to me that access to resources shaped people's education, inspiring me to find ways to provide my students with better access to these valuable resources. My first experience of fundraising began in Laos. After reading an article about the devastation caused by floods and learning how the country's beautiful natural scenery stood in stark contrast to the suffering of its people, I was inspired to help. That summer, I held up posters of Laos' dams in front of supermarkets, sang hymns to catch shoppers' attention, and crafted DIY slimes and trinkets to sell to fellow students. Despite my hesitation about traveling to a foreign country, my heart softened during the four months I spent fundraising for Laos. I wanted to visit the community in-person and see how I could help firsthand. When I first volunteered at the Laos Sansouk School, I learned how mothers couldn't afford their child's education and gave up their craft to send their children to school, and even then, most schools were about an hour's walk away. My conversations with Doctor Yoo reaffirmed how essential finances were to keep operations in Vientiane strong. Specifically, I learned how the hospital budget left countless newborns without care. Their lack of funds for life support machines and ventilators left many who could not pay upfront untreated, even as mothers desperately searched for cash to afford the medical bills. Since then, I have financially supported the Laos Hospital and Sansouk School for three years, providing breathing support machines for NICU newborns and funding the school by requesting donations from businesses, selling slime and crafts, and tutoring kids–raising over $5,000. My family of five has been affected by the pandemic. Financially, my father's small church lost funding during COVID-19 and is paying utility fees out of his pocket. Additionally, my mother was laid off from 2017 to 2018 due to downsizing and later had hysterectomy surgery. We are still recovering financially due to the significant debt incurred through her unemployment and hospital bills. My sister and my cost of tuition combined is about 42% of my parent's total gross income. Despite our struggle, my parents taught me the importance of sacrifice: providing for others before ourselves. My students ' families refused to allow poverty, disaster, or any other circumstance to dampen their love for one another or their dedication to improving their lives. Through each student's smile and indomitable spirit, I learned that I was not the one helping people when I volunteered; my students were the ones inspiring me. Their perseverance gives me the courage to try, fail, and try again in whatever endeavor I pursue. My heart to serve has enabled me to see the beauty in life as it is, not colored by societal pressures. The interactions I encounter and the stories I have the chance to listen to inspire me to use my knowledge and experiences to make the world better for others.

The magnolia. My favorite flower because it reminds me of my mom's life: perseverance. No matter how significant things take a turn, she remains the same bright and faithful person. My mom grew up in a low-income household in Taiwan, a foreign country. Despite her financial hardships, she came third in her high school in Taiwan and was admitted into the top universities in Korea, majoring in education. However, due to my mom's commitment to giving my family a better life and supporting my father's theology education in America, she gave up her dream of becoming a Chinese teacher and came to America. Despite immediately having to work as a customer service representative, my mom has stayed thankful. She lives a selfless life to better the lives of others by providing food for the homeless and single mothers in our neighborhood–ingraining the values of sacrifice and providing for others, even when we are not in the best situation ourselves. Growing up, my mom inspired me to study diligently because of the sacrifices she has made for me. However, little did I know that my world would come crashing down in ninth grade when my mom was found to have strains of cancer in her ovaries. In a blink of a second, I found my mom in the hospital bed, waiting for her hysterectomy surgery. I have heard from my church members that during high school, freshman year is the most important to adapting to high school and starting on a strong note. But now, I was distracted from my studies, and during my history exam, all I had in my mind was when I'd be able to get to the hospital and be with my mom. My role model, mentor, and best friend was going through so much pain, and I felt hopeless in my power to get rid of that pain or transfer that pain to me. Soon enough, I received my first-ever C on my history exam. One night I heard my parents worrying about paying the financial bills and that my father had to take on more jobs until midnight. I felt like a disappointment to my parents, who've already given up so much for me. Increasingly, I became responsible for picking up my younger brother from school, making lunch and dinner, and finishing the dishes. When my mom saw that her condition was taking a toll on my studies and well-being, she put her hands on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, and reassured me that everything would be alright. I had a mental breakdown. Even if my parents couldn't afford me to have tutoring, I was determined to be the best version I could be. Hence, I spent hours learning on Youtube, reading countless sources, and staying for extra help an hour every day. I began to manage my time better, and my grades followed. Not only has this experience led me to graduate as Valedictorian of my high school, but more importantly, I learned to be compassionate and loving towards others, thankful, and persistent even when roadblocks arise. Seeing nurses bring light to my mom's difficult times, I grew a heart for serving: listening to people's stories and bringing joy into their days. By studying Business Economics and Public Policy this upcoming fall at the University of Pennsylvania, I aim to create financial pathways that uplift underserved communities. I plan to engage in educational and medical sectors to revitalize marginalized communities and address the inequalities faced in impoverished neighborhoods and developing countries.