There are times when being comfortable just isn’t comfortable.
Credit that chewy little koan to Kelly Park, who recently bid “ahn nyeong hee ga se yo” to a postgraduate gig in her native South Korea to return to the University of Hawaii to further her studies in economics.
“I try never to compromise with myself when there is a goal that I’m working toward,” says Park. “I want to stay true to what I believe.”
Park moved to Hawaii with her family when she was a teenager and was a standout student at Kaiser High School, where she stoked an early interest in international relations and diplomacy with participation in the Model United Nations and 21st Century Ahupuaa Youth Ambassador programs.
Park said her experience as an immigrant seeking to bridge gaps in cultural understanding helped shape her academic and professional ambitions.
At UH she majored in political science, economics and Spanish and served internships with the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, then-U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the UH Economic Research Organization.
After graduating in 2012, Park was a consultant for the Inovi Group, graduate teaching assistant at Pusan National University and researcher for the Institute of APEC Collaborative Education, eventually settling in as head secretary of APEC’s Human Resources Development Working Group.
“It was a prestigious position, the work was challenging and I was one of the youngest people on the staff,” Park said. “I was in a good position, but I knew that my knowledge was limited and there were things I could improve on.”
Park’s resolve to continue learning was only strengthened by her recent participation in the Mosaic Taiwan Fellowship program, created by Taiwanese President Ma Ying Jeou, himself an alumnus of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
Park and fellow UH graduate Jasmine Asuncion joined two dozen other U.S. college students in Taiwan for the three-week program. There the students met with Ma and his Cabinet, called on the mayor of Kaohsing (Honolulu’s sister city), taught English at a technical high school, spent time with Taiwanese aboriginal tribes and visited with social movement leaders, including representatives from the Sunflower student movement.
Park, who hopes to pursue a career in international policy and economic development, says the opportunity to meet with so many different groups reaffirmed what she finds most inspiring in the field of international relations.
“Being able to talk about the meaning of democracy to Taiwan teaches us how closely linked we are as societies and how much we can benefit from each other,” Park says.
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
