Hello, my name is Matthew Hyung Ki Kim but better known as Matt Kim. I was born and raised in Queens, New York where I lived my entire life. I am an American-Korean who grew up hearing that I am too dark for my race; probably because I spent a few summers in Hawaii and never came back the same color. My hobbies are “rolling” with people (a term used in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), playing the ukulele, swimming and biking. When it comes to what gets me out of bed and keeps me going, it would be my family. They are the reason I am who I am and drives me to succeed. They have always been there for me and I love them dearly. However, from all of the members of my family, my brother would be my biggest inspiration. Wanting to be the best older brother figure for him, I set my self to live by good morals and be that guy he can look up to. From what people can probably see from my reactions to things, I am a fairly jocular person who just likes to live life laughing.
As of right now, my top concern would be my transition into the college lifestyle. Spending many hours reading, writing and reading (again) makes the newly discovered freedom of having fewer classes not that liberating. More or less being a luxury to be free to roam around while the idea of doing homework is lingering in the back of my mind. Another concern is trying to juggle around work, school and other activities (for example, Jiu Jitsu, church service, babysitting, and hanging with friends). The life that used to be my childhood is no longer existent because of all the new responsibilities towards future success. In addition, because of the many activities everyday, finding the time to get a goodnight sleep is becoming a big problem. Not getting enough sleep makes it difficult to stay awake in class making it another one of my concerns as a freshman trying to pass my classes in college.
Compared to my years attending Francis Lewis High School, it is a lot better here in Baruch in terms of the atmosphere and environment. It is less crowded than my high school which was populated with over five thousand students in a building made for four thousand. Also, having smaller class sizes makes the Baruch life much better than forty in a room learning from one teacher. But aside from the crowded school, I can’t help but miss the idea of having six hundred cadets in the JROTC program calling me “sir” every Wednesday when we wore uniform. From being one of the elites in high school to a freshman in college, the only place to go now is up.
This first year in college is going to help me shape my future. Finally discovering somewhat of a solid foundation for what my major is going to be, I am just waiting on getting through the year of core classes. Unlike the old Matt Kim, finding shortcuts to work is not going to be an option and this year is going to corroborate my efforts at becoming successful; leading me to pursue my passion in …
