Student Spotlights is a monthly column highlighting the interesting stories and unique experiences
of our diverse pre-health population. Student Spotlights features posts written by Emory pre-health students. This month's column is written by NJ Kim.
Eungjae (NJ) Kim is a Senior from Plano, TX. He is a
Biology and English & Creative Writing double major pursuing the pre-med track.
An Emory staff member, whom I’d never met, once asked, “What
are you interested in?” He was the first Emory staff member I spoke to on
campus. He wasn’t an academic advisor, OUE staff member, or from residence
life. He was my varsity baseball coach Mike Twardoski.
As a high school student-athlete, I was focused on my short-term goals of getting into college,
and consequently, my horizon was abridged. I wasn’t quite sure how my
student-athlete experience would differentiate from that of high school – if I would
have to habitually sacrifice the pursuit of my interests and endeavors due to time
commitment as a student-athlete. I had set a few goals during my freshmen year
and shared my story with Coach Twardoski. He listened to my stories. He then
introduced me to faculty members and resources that would serve as vehicles to
my goals. This was fun and invigorating. His doing was the launch to the foundation
of my network.
I began inquiring
more and more questions, and met faculty, scholars, friends, and learned more
about myself on campus. I picked up on the essence of “investment.” Emory was
invested in my welfare. Instinctively, it became an obligation for me to
reciprocate and invest in my community, the same way Coach Twardoski had
modeled for me. The rest is history. With investment followed an enterprising mindset
and an entrepreneurship spirit. “What is my purpose in this organization?” It
became my maxim to leave an organization better than I had found it through
observership and problem-solving. With this mentality, I became irreplaceable to
a degree in various positions. In other words, my contribution and spirit were
their own unique identities in the organization.
I used my
network and resources for my personal growth, but they were also exercised in
my mentorships for my peers as an Academic Coach and as a teammate on the
baseball field. There are too many to count, the academic and career/internship
success stories I have shared with my classmates.
Upon reflection, there was no sacrificing pursuit of my
interests and passion because Emory was my number one advocate and lent its
platform for each and every endeavor of mine. I did not let my degree or pre-health
track suppress my passions, such as screenwriting, baseball, entrepreneurship
in my business, and most importantly, service work at Emory and in the city of
Atlanta. I hope that students achieve the sustainable drive to be proactive
with an altruistic manner and do not take for granted the friends and scholars on
campus. As I have shared with the Emory student-athlete body, as a National Student-Athlete
Advisory Committee representative, I am elated to be able to claim that we are
a class A organization.