My Journey from Korea to Virginia Tech

When I was in high school, I never imagined that I’d one day be studying and interacting with friends from various countries and backgrounds at Virginia Tech. I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. The story of how I came to Virginia Tech from Korea is quite unique. My family had the opportunity to come to the U.S. in 2019, and we contemplated immigrating during the summer. My parents were worried that I, already preparing to enter college, and my younger brother, in middle school, would not be able to adapt to the new environment and culture because we immigrated at such a late age. However, my brother and I told our parents that we wanted to immigrate to the U.S. for more opportunities and a bigger world– so our family immigrated to Queens, New York City, in December, 2019.

I entered a public high school in Queens as a junior student and immediately started preparing for college. When I began applying to college, I thought I wouldn't be able to get into a nationally recognized program like Virginia Tech's engineering program. During the pandemic and studying in another language, I suffered a lot academically and couldn't do many activities. However, thanks to Virginia Tech's holistic application process, considering my activities in Korea and the difficulties I faced during the pandemic, I was accepted into the College of Engineering program.

Coming to Blacksburg as a freshman for the fall semester in 2021, I had a complicated thought: there was an expectation of making friends in a new environment, but there was also the fear of academic difficulties in a different environment. Fortunately, the residential advisor's welcome orientation, CEED mentoring program, and other programs for first-year students made Virginia Tech feel more like home for me and that I was a part of the Hokie community. I went to the Writing Center periodically for difficulties due to language barriers in English classes, and when I felt difficulties in subjects such as general chemistry, physics, and math, I used the Student Success Center and professors' office hours a lot. I met with my academic advisor almost once a week to ask many questions, and the Peer Academic Coaching program helped me with my study strategy. I'm probably the student who made the most use of Virginia Tech's numerous support programs.

If my first year was the process of becoming a member of the Hokie community, my second year began my full-fledged school life as a Hokie. I started taking positions in the clubs and organizations I was in. I was elected Vice President for Shared Governance in the Undergraduate Student Senate and started working as a Chair of the Commission on Undergraduate Student Affairs. And as a student leader at Virginia Tech, I was invited to the Order of the Gavel, a student advisory group that reports directly to the Vice President for Student Affairs. It began with my will to transparently convey the voices of students to the leadership of the university. I joined the Council of International Student Organizations as an intern to help international students who are struggling with language and cultural barriers like me and help planning the 62^nd International Street Fair, the university's largest event with annual 12,000+ attendees, 70+ cultural and international student organizations, and 11 food trucks. I was able to make amazing friends with more backgrounds while working in the student governance organization, and I was happy to serve the students. Other than that, I started to be more active in the non-governance clubs I was interested in. As Secretary of Service Without Borders, I began writing newsletters to club members and was accepted into the Associate Program at the Consulting Group at Virginia Tech. What I want to say to Hokie families is that there are 800+ clubs and various programs at Virginia Tech, and there is always a community you feel you belong to because there are so many opportunities. So even if you don't immediately find a community you belong to, don't be discouraged and keep trying.

In conclusion, I learned a lot while at Virginia Tech, and I'm so happy to be here! I'm very excited to see what experiences I will have in my junior and senior years. One thing I would like to say is that the Undergraduate Student Senate application is open now and will be open on GobblerConnect until February 28, so Hokies who want to serve in the highest level of student governance at Virginia Tech are encouraged to apply! If you have any questions about the application or Undergraduate Student Seante in general, please email me at gogochan25@vt.edu. Go Hokies!