Boyeong Kelly Eom

Our group used Baruch library website to look for volunteer opportunities and found New York Cares.This is an organization that allows us to help NYC parks, schools and community. My participation in Community Service Project encouraged me to look more into broader sense of community. I have volunteered for Minkwon Center for Community Action, which is a community center that meets the concerns and needs of the Korean American Community through several program areas such as youth, community advocacy, and social services. This organization works mostly for Korean community; however, New York Cares works for whole New York City community. Therefore I believe that this organization would make me more integrated into this society and connected to more people. Preparation for presentation also allows me to learn to work as a group and to make a good presentation.

I haven’t joined any of Baruch student clubs, but I want to join Women in Business, AISEC and some music clubs. I want to join AISEC because I believe it would give me opportunities to know more about studying abroad and about the career in International Business. I also believe this would contribute international experiences by providing internships in another country. As of now, I want to major in business but I’ve always had a passion in music. Whenever I get stressed out, and get emotionally weak, I sing or listen to music. Sometimes, I listen to music and cry at the same to release the stress, and to forget the sad memories that I had. So I want to join a club where people can share their tastes in music, and play instruments and sing together. For next three years, I want to make my life productive; I will probably graduate from Baruch, and go to graduated school or have a job. However, at the same time, I also want to do all the craziest things that only young people can do in their life. I will be still young after three years and when I get old, I do not regret about things that I cannot do I was young. You only live once. YOLO!

I think the meaning of “serve your community” is that you have to help and work for creating a fair society for everyone. I joined the youth program at the Minkwon Center for the Community Action. The Minkwon Center is a community center which meets the concerns and needs of the Korean American Community through several program areas such as youth, community advocacy, and social services. From this organization, I learned about the millions of undocumented youth, who came to the country with their parents at a young age, and their harsh lives here. In the United States, approximately 65,000 youth do not get an opportunity to attend elite colleges even though they are more able and willing to contribute an America’s bright future. They are always barricaded by an inherited title: an Illegal Alien. As I became more involved in this issue, I started to regret and became embarrassed by all my previous complaints about studying. I have attended a fancy private high school. I have my visa which identifies me as a legal student in America, and I attend college without any immigration problems. Nevertheless, I admittedly have complained about my school work without considering the undocumented students all over the nation who do not have the opportunities and benefits that I have. Then I began to pose the question to myself about what I could do for these students. The solution I finally approached was to participate in trying to pass the DREAM Act. DREAM Act is a legislation created to find pathway for undocumented to receive financial assistance to access college educations and eventually receive permanent residency and citizenship. The advocates of this act often make speeches in public and do outreach on the streets to spread the information about DREAM Act. During the summer of 2010, I participated many of MinKwon Center’s advocacy activities. I participated in the awareness of DREAM Act and share the lonely stories of undocumented students in front of the White House in Washington D.C. My enthusiasm was recognized by the members of the MinKwon Center who appointed me as a MYST (Minkwon Youth Support Team) Leader. As a MYST leader, I continue to lead and organize many youth in our community in order to eventually pass the DREAM Act and create a more promising future for our immigrant youth and American society.

My name is Kelly Eom, and my real name (Korean name) is Boyeong. As most of you know by now, I am an international student from Korea. When I first came to America, unlike the other international students, I didn’t have any particular problems or difficulties with living in the States. Maybe I was too young to recognize the problems. But, as I got into high school, I started to perceive those problems.  I realized that I have a Korean accent and I cannot pronounce some words correctly. I felt embarrassed about them. Therefore, I was so terrified of standing in front of people and making a speech or doing a class presentation. I also began to hide myself from speaking because I was afraid that people would make fun of my accent and pronunciation. These behaviors also changed my personality from active to passive.

In college, I want a change in my life. Since I will major in business, I need to learn speaking and communication skills, which are the most essential parts of the business. I want to learn how to speak well in front of people and communicate with others. I also want to restore my active personality in college. I will try not to afraid to talk to people or present in front of them because of my flaws with speaking. For the first semester, I want to get to know a lot of people and to adapt into this new college environment.

Studies at Baruch in the past three weeks have been challenging but I am still very happy and blessed because of the amazing and kind people I met at Baruch.

Welcome to Blogs@Baruch!

This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging.