By: Chloé Francois

Kim stands with a group of unfamiliar American faces. She assertively voices her opinion without stuttering nor worrying about her peer’s perception of her. Confident that her input is meaningful and important, Kim never holds back.

Namhyun Kim, 24, is an international student from South Korea studying Sports Marketing at the University of Oregon. Kim is a self-assured, upbeat girl who loves going out and meeting new people, but she wasn’t always like this.

When Kim first arrived at the University of Oregon two years ago, she was very reserved and lacked confidence to voice her opinion. Last spring term, Kim was randomly appointed peers for a group project in Operations & Business Analytics 335. Kim felt stressed whenever attending group meetings because she wanted to be involved, but her group member’s lack of interaction with her made her feel excluded. Kim’s voice was never heard.

Clare Tai, Kim’s roommate, recalls a day when Kim came home after a meeting for a group project and was happy. “Once she realized the assignment and completed it she felt confident about the things she learned and then she [could] start to speak up for herself,” said Tai. Through these group meetings, Kim recognized that American students are bias towards international students. No matter how proficient one may be in English, American students will “judge appearance first, second language,” as Kim explains. She came to understand that many people can’t accept other cultures and will judge others by appearance before anything else. As an international student working in group projects, Namhyun Kim finally realized that it was simply her American peers who were unwilling to accept her and that she wasn’t the problem.

Tai now notices a significant difference in how Kim acts in new and unfamiliar environments. In social interactions, she is no longer very quiet and is willing to talk to anyone she doesn’t know. She is now much more comfortable when meeting new people and loves making new friends. Although Kim is still nervous when starting a new group project for fear of her group mates not being open-minded, Kim now feels more confident and capable of handling such situations.

Moving forward, Kim hopes to break barriers between American students and international students. Kim sees a problem that needs attention: most Americans don’t try to interact with international students. While this is a big problem to fix, she thinks that it can start with she and her friends. Kim strives to speak up and be the one to start a conversation with Americans. She urges her friends to do the same. Little by little, Kim believes she will be able to change the stereotype of international students only hanging out with one another.

 

Photo Courtesy of Namhyun Kim