Madeline: United States: Mar 01, 2021

Seoul, Korea is my homeland and I have not been back since I was young. When I was three months old, I was sent on a plane from Seoul, Korea to the United States. Right as I was birthed, I was taken out of my biological mother’s arms and was immediately placed into the Korean governmental foster care system. She desperately wanted me to have a life that could provide me with opportunities and privileges in America. I am a first generation, Korean American college graduate in a Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) major.
In college I made it my goal to be educated on a magnitude of disciplines, I wanted to be diversely educated on many subjects. I did not want to only focus my education on one specific topic, I took advantage of the different classes that are offered. I have a strong cultural background that greatly makes up who I am. When I was an adolescent my American parents decided this would be a striving age to expand my personal education through cultural immersion. The main principle of the cultural immersion is to physically and mentally explore the different and unique cultures, but most importantly to be a part of a diverse community. I have mainly focused my scholarly career on environmental science, and integrating general science and mathematical studies, as well as cultural classes that include language. My goal is to do the most I can with the knowledge I have gathered so far into my life by helping and supporting others.