KAGC Student Spotlight: Michelle, Michigan
The girl who resented her Korean American identity now learned to finally embrace her identity and she wouldn’t want to be anybody else.
I am an immigrant, a Korean-American, a first-generation college student. My identity is made up of and shaped by the intersection of these labels. They each influenced me differently but worked together to define how I grew up and who I am today. As part of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, I got to the full impact of these important aspects of my life. This process was definitely an emotional stepping stone as it gave me a new understanding of how I will approach my future.
From the moment I first stepped out of the airplane twelve years ago, my life has been a non-stop roller coaster ride of understanding my identity as I adapted to a new country. It was a process of becoming a Korean-American from a Korean. I had to understand the new identity by myself with no guidance from others, as it was solely my responsibility and something only I can do. This journey was definitely a struggle because I saw my Korean identity as an obstacle in the way of becoming a true American.
KAGC was a space to network and form connections with who are Korean-American community leaders on their campus.
The first time I realized I could begin to embrace — rather than hide from — my identity was when I decided to apply to the Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE) summer program in high school. Just before writing this, I decided to look through my email to find the application I submitted three years ago for the internship program. Reading the application today got me speechless for a little bit and made me laugh. The amount of growth I got to have in the past three years in understanding civic engagement and grassroots movement is unreal.
The prompt for one of the essays for the application was to answer what civic engagement and grassroots mean to me and why I think they are powerful. The first thing I did when I read this prompt was to search on Google: “civic engagement” and “grassroots movement.” At the time, I had a narrow, surface-level understanding of these terms. However, with my experience with KAGC, I was able to form my own definition of civic engagement and grassroots movement.
My first experience with KAGC was the 2017 KAGC National Conference. This was the first time I could apply what I learned about advocacy and policy during my KACE internship into action. I still remember the Action Day when we were given the opportunity to present and advocate for the Korean American policy priorities to the members of Congress. When I walked into their offices, I was terrified. I did not speak a single word to the members of Congress except maybe “Hello” and “Thank you.” But this all changed in 2019.
When I became a first-year student at the University of Michigan, I volunteered at the 2019 KAGC U Leadership Summit which was the first time I was able to interact with other KAGC participants as a college student. It was a space to network and form connections with who are Korean-American community leaders on their campus. That same year, I also volunteered at the KAGC National Conference. This was when I became a “small group” leader on Action Day for those from New Jersey. Again, I was terrified and I began questioning my abilities: “Will I be able to do this? What if I say the wrong things to the Representative? What if I tell the wrong information to my group?” But with the guidance of my fellow KAGC volunteers and staff, I was able to successfully step out of my comfort zone and embrace this opportunity.
During my journey with KAGC, I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of civic engagement as a minority and as a young Korean American. Before, I did not quite understand the privilege and the power I had as a young Korean American voter. I was told civic engagement was important to the community, but I wasn’t able to truly grasp why it was so important to me as an individual, until I began to connect these efforts to my life, to my future, and to my family and friends. My identity as a Korean-American allows me to advocate for those who I care about in my community. When I realized this, I was thankful to be a Korean-American. I no longer saw my identity as an obstacle but a blessing.
Since I was young, I saw every accomplishment and experience as a key to each door of opportunities in the future. Now, I can confidently say that being a part of KAGC opened doors to civic engagement and advocacy for me. KAGC not only helped me form my own definition of grassroots and civic engagement but also allowed me to be part of such terms. The girl who looked up technical definitions of these terms, now, truly understands what they mean. The girl who resented her Korean American identity now learned to finally embrace her identity and she wouldn’t want to be anybody else.
Michelle is a sophomore at the University of Michigan, where she majors in computer science. She also serves as the Vice President of Service at her campus chapter of aKDPhi and as Vice President, Internal of the United Asian American Organizations. Since Michelle first joined KAGC through a local high school program, she has joined the 2017 KAGC National Conference, 2019 KAGC U Leadership Summit, and 2019 KAGC National Conference. This summer, she is working at KAGC as a Engelhardt Social Justice Fellow.
Click here to learn more about KAGC, the largest nationwide network of Korean American voters, and its programs and events for a rare opportunity to share the Korean American identity, discuss the key issues of our community, and get our voices heard, counted, and reflected in public policy.
