Chul Kim OC ‘15

J.F. Oberlin University, Japan (2015-17)

Chul Kim graduated in May 2015 as an East Asian Studies major (he was also the Japanese Studies major representative) and a minor in Chemistry. Chul was born in Korea and moved to the U.S. when he was very young. He grew up in Ohio, and in addition to speaking Korean at home, Chul is in fourth year Japanese, has taken first year Chinese and even knows a bit of German. He received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad last spring at Waseda University (so did Chris Nguyen!) and was extraordinarily active in student groups on campus. He was co-chair of the Oberlin Korean Student Association and the Chinese Student Association, and he headed the Asian Night Market Committee that coordinates an on-campus event of over three hundred visitors and collaborates with 7 different organizations. Chul was a Senior Intern at the Office of Admissions where he led on-campus tours and interviewed prospective students. As if he’s not busy enough doing all that, Chul is a teacher of the Asian Cuisine Exco, and a student assistant at the science library. Chul noted in his statement of interest that, “moments of cultural exchanges have made me more flexible and comfortable with new intercultural experiences. I grew up appreciating the process of exploring American culture, and thus I am also prepared to introduce new cultural experiences to my students as a Shansi fellow.”