Entries Tagged as 'Spotlight'
October 26th, 2014 Written by MOLLY DENG | Comments Off on “How Do You Preserve Your Culture While Still Being A Global Citizen?”
James Wong, a 20-year-old international business major at Baruch College, hopes in his career to explore many different cultures aside from his own personal background. As a team member of AIESEC, a global ambassador, and an Asian American, Wong has found a way to express his heritage while traveling across Eastern Europe and experiencing different cultures.
AISEC is an international student run organization that provides internship opportunities and professional experiences for students abroad while breeding global leaders and promoting cultural awareness. In over 125 countries and 2400 universities, AIESEC Baruch sends the most students abroad every year. As a team member, Wong acts as a guide who assists students as they prepare for their own travel abroad journey.
Here is a recap of our interview as Wong shares his views on how his heritage plays into his travel abroad experience.
James Wong, 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, International Business Major
Wong interning abroad in Romania during the Spring 2013 semester.
Q: How do you identify yourself?
A: I am Malaysian and I identify myself as Asian American.
Q: What does being Asian American mean to you?
A: I don’t know what being an Asian American means to me. I don’t really categorize them into having any specific beliefs or traits, not myself at least.
Q: What is your role in AIESEC and how did you come to be involved with this organization?
A: I’m a team member and I became involved after going abroad to Romania. I loved the experience and wanted the opportunity to help others have the AIESEC experience.
Q: How does your background play into your role in AIESEC and affect your decision to go to certain countries?
A: It definitely contributes to the diversity of the organization. In terms of choosing countries, I’ve been to Malaysia and China before so I guess it made me want to see Europe, more so Eastern Europe because it is so much different than American culture.
Q: How does your Asian background influence your view of the world?
A:I think growing up in Brooklyn and around many Asian Americans, I had a lot of the view Asian Americans have such as when you grow up, you must go to college, do well in school, money is important. But my parents have a non-traditional background since they studied in the UK so I have mixed perception about things.
Q: Why do you think it is important to travel abroad and experience different cultures?
A: The world isn’t just where you live, and if you stay in the same place your whole life, you never realize a lot of things. Things like there’s more to life than money, there are beautiful places out there, different kinds of people, beliefs, and the world has a multitude of experiences to offer. It allows you to see things from a different perspective and realize that the world isn’t one dimensional. There’s no one answer to live life and that life is about your story and how you want to express it.
Q: How do you preserve your culture while still being a global citizen?
A: I don’t really have an answer to that. I don’t openly express my Asian culture. I guess it’s in the little things I do, how I dress, speak, say hi, give hugs, joke around. I don’t think of it as preserving. Oh, I celebrate Chinese New Year and get red envelopes.
Q: Where do you consider home?
A: America and I guess Malaysia.
Q: What do you wish you know about your culture?
A: I’m not looking to learn anything specific but I love diving into cultures and learning as much as I can about them to develop a better perception of the world.
Tags: On The Other Side of the World · Spotlight
October 26th, 2014 Written by MOLLY DENG | Comments Off on Memoirs of a Global Citizen: Things to Keep in Mind While Traveling Abroad
James Wong, a 20-year-old international business major at Baruch College, hopes in his career to explore many different cultures aside from his own personal background. As a team member of AIESEC, a global ambassador, and an Asian American, Wong has found a way to express his heritage while traveling across Eastern Europe and experiencing different cultures.
AISEC is an international student run organization that provides internship opportunities and professional experiences for students abroad while breeding global leaders and promoting cultural awareness. In over 125 countries and 2400 universities, AIESEC Baruch sends the most students abroad every year. As a team member, Wong acts as a guide who assists students as they prepare for their own travel abroad journey.
Here is a recap of our interview as Wong shares his views on how his heritage plays into his travel abroad experience.
James Wong, 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, International Business Major
Wong interning abroad in Romania during the Spring 2013 semester.
Q: How do you identify yourself?
A: I am Malaysian and I identify myself as Asian American.
Q: What does being Asian American mean to you?
A: I don’t know what being an Asian American means to me. I don’t really categorize them into having any specific beliefs or traits, not myself at least.
Q: What is your role in AIESEC and how did you come to be involved with this organization?
A: I’m a team member and I became involved after going abroad to Romania. I loved the experience and wanted the opportunity to help others have the AIESEC experience.
Q: How does your background play into your role in AIESEC and affect your decision to go to certain countries?
A: It definitely contributes to the diversity of the organization. In terms of choosing countries, I’ve been to Malaysia and China before so I guess it made me want to see Europe, more so Eastern Europe because it is so much different than American culture.
Q: How does your Asian background influence your view of the world?
A:I think growing up in Brooklyn and around many Asian Americans, I had a lot of the view Asian Americans have such as when you grow up, you must go to college, do well in school, money is important. But my parents have a non-traditional background since they studied in the UK so I have mixed perception about things.
Q: Why do you think it is important to travel abroad and experience different cultures?
A: The world isn’t just where you live, and if you stay in the same place your whole life, you never realize a lot of things. Things like there’s more to life than money, there are beautiful places out there, different kinds of people, beliefs, and the world has a multitude of experiences to offer. It allows you to see things from a different perspective and realize that the world isn’t one dimensional. There’s no one answer to live life and that life is about your story and how you want to express it.
Q: How do you preserve your culture while still being a global citizen?
A: I don’t really have an answer to that. I don’t openly express my Asian culture. I guess it’s in the little things I do, how I dress, speak, say hi, give hugs, joke around. I don’t think of it as preserving. Oh, I celebrate Chinese New Year and get red envelopes.
Q: Where do you consider home?
A: America and I guess Malaysia.
Q: What do you wish you know about your culture?
A: I’m not looking to learn anything specific but I love diving into cultures and learning as much as I can about them to develop a better perception of the world.
Tags: On The Other Side of the World · Spotlight · What's Happening in Baruch
October 15th, 2014 Written by MOLLY DENG | Comments Off on Made in America: What Does It Mean to be Asian American?
Has the Asian culture been uprooted when the first generation of Asians immigrated to the US? As Asian Americans, we brand ourselves with Asian roots blended with American culture but the average millennial New York Asian American is slowly losing touch with their cultural roots than earlier generations, a trend that writers have recently identified. Bloggers like Phil Yu, also known as the Angry Asian Man, rants about the blatant discrimination towards Asian American in everyday scenarios but what exactly does being Asian American entail? Marq Hwang shares his perspective of “What Does It Mean To Be Asian American?” in the Huffington Post, where he makes an interesting remark, about the Asian in Asian American.
To be Asian American, you start to realize that you put more and more of yourself in the American category, and you view the Asian as a slight spin, like Irish, Newyorican, German. … Your blood might have come from overseas, but your heart started beating here.
I dug a little deeper and I found an article in New York Magazine, “Paper Tigers” where Wesley Yang publicizes his scorn for the timid Asian culture. He sees a reflection that he can neither disclaim nor accept.
How do we celebrate our heritage with such limited knowledge of our culture? I interviewed several millennial Asian Americans around New York who seemed to lack knowledge of the culture but openly told me what it meant for them to be Asian.
Eva Law, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“Being Asian to me means believing that hard work will lead to results. It means celebrating Chinese New Year and being superstitious.”
Kelvin Kwong, Age 21, Queens, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“I don’t know what it means to be Asian American. For me, I guess it means excelling at math and majoring in Accounting.”
Stephanie Chen, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“Being Asian means having high expectations from my parents, my grandparents, especially as a first generation American.”
Sean Chee, Age 19, Queens, Student at Baruch, Psychology Major
“I’m proud to be Chinese American. As humans, it is natural to want to fit in and when I was a child. I used to be bullied because I was fat. It was easier for me to talk to other Chinese kids because we have similar lifestyles. As I got older, I learned to be more open. From my identity, I was able to be the person I am today, someone of sociability and open-mindedness.”
Tin Lee, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Hunter, English Major
“What makes me Asian is my ability to speak Chinese, however limited, still opens a lot of doors for me.”
Tags: Fortune Cookie Moment · On The Other Side of the World · Spotlight · What's Happening in Baruch · What's Happening in Chinatown
October 15th, 2014 Written by MOLLY DENG | Comments Off on Made in America
Has the Asian culture been uprooted when the first generation of Asians immigrated to the US? As Asian Americans, we brand ourselves with Asian roots blended with American culture but the average millennial New York Asian American is slowly losing touch with their cultural roots than earlier generations, a trend that writers have recently identified. Bloggers like Phil Yu, also known as the Angry Asian Man, rants about the blatant discrimination towards Asian American in everyday scenarios but what exactly does being Asian American entail? Marq Hwang shares his perspective of “What Does It Mean To Be Asian American?” in the Huffington Post, where he makes an interesting remark, about the Asian in Asian American.
To be Asian American, you start to realize that you put more and more of yourself in the American category, and you view the Asian as a slight spin, like Irish, Newyorican, German. … Your blood might have come from overseas, but your heart started beating here.
I dug a little deeper and I found an article in New York Magazine, “Paper Tigers” where Wesley Yang publicizes his scorn for the timid Asian culture. He sees a reflection that he can neither disclaim nor accept.
How do we celebrate our heritage with such limited knowledge of our culture? I interviewed several millennial Asian Americans around New York who seemed to lack knowledge of the culture but openly told me what it meant for them to be Asian.
Eva Law, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“Being Asian to me means believing that hard work will lead to results. It means celebrating Chinese New Year and being superstitious.”
Kelvin Kwong, Age 21, Queens, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“I don’t know what it means to be Asian American. For me, I guess it means excelling at math and majoring in Accounting.”
Stephanie Chen, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Baruch, Accounting Major
“Being Asian means having high expectations from my parents, my grandparents, especially as a first generation American.”
Sean Chee, Age 19, Queens, Student at Baruch, Psychology Major
“I’m proud to be Chinese American. As humans, it is natural to want to fit in and when I was a child. I used to be bullied because I was fat. It was easier for me to talk to other Chinese kids because we have similar lifestyles. As I got older, I learned to be more open. From my identity, I was able to be the person I am today, someone of sociability and open-mindedness.”
Tin Lee, Age 20, Brooklyn, Student at Hunter, English Major
“What makes me Asian is my ability to speak Chinese, however limited, still opens a lot of doors for me.”
Tags: Fortune Cookie Moment · On The Other Side of the World · Spotlight · What's Happening in Baruch · What's Happening in Chinatown