(upbeat music)
- My name is Faith Kim,
I'm 24 and I was born in Deerfield, Illinois.
I grew up in a predominantly white school
and I was probably one of two Asians in my grade.
Kind of typical Midwest,
a lot of cornfields kind of country.
Like from a young age I didn't really know how
I could be both Korean and American.
And I remember when I was like in elementary school,
we had a project where we outlined our bodies
and then we colored in like our hair and our clothes
and things like that.
And I specifically remember coloring half of my hair blonde
and the other half black,
because I didn't really understand how I could be both.
And then just growing up,
I didn't have a lot of other Korean American friends
to relate to.
I did feel kind of uncomfortable
when people would make comments
or they would just like try to make jokes
but it just didn't really sit well with me.
But it was so normal in that environment
that I thought that I was just overreacting
or I was thinking that I was just being way too sensitive.
But now that I look back,
I realized that they're just like microaggressions
and not really things that are okay to be said.
So my parents immigrated from Korea
when they were around like 12, 13 years old
and then grew up the rest of their childhood
in the States and Canada.
I learned English first
and then when I was about in middle school,
I kind of got more into K-pop and K-dramas
and my mom would sit me down to do Rosetta Stone a lot.
And now I would say that she speaks Korean to me,
but I usually just speak English back.
My dad was originally a psychologist
and then he ended up joining the army.
And he did that for probably about 12 to 15 years,
going from the reserves to active duty
and kind of back and forth.
And so I was exposed to the military in that lifestyle
and he had a couple deployments.
My brother is four years older than me,
he's 28
and he is in the army.
So I knew about that and I knew about the environment
and it always looked like so much fun
like from the outside looking in.
But I remember telling myself
when I was a freshman in high school,
that I was never gonna join the military.
As I became a junior and senior,
I ended up going to their summer programs
and ended up really liking the environment and the schools
and everything that they had to offer.
And just the different benefits like free school
and a guaranteed job after I graduated,
those were pretty like important to me.
And then being able to serve like my brother
and my dad and kind of follow in their footsteps,
I thought that that would be kind of cool.
So I went to the Air Force Academy
and I studied behavioral science.
And now I'm in the Air Force as an officer
and I'm in the cyber career field.
I think I learned that
it's important to be out of your comfort zone
because I've grew up in a tiny school
where I knew everyone from first grade till 12th grade.
And I mean the Air Force Academy isn't a huge school either,
but definitely bigger than my graduating class of 75 people.
I was immediately like not in my comfort zone
the moment I got there and you start with basic too
and people are yelling at you
and it's a whole new environment
so it was really scary.
But from that I think it teaches,
like it taught me a lot about myself
and like how I handle stress
and how just like I interact with people.
There's a good amount of Korean Americans there
and there was also like a Korean American group
that would throw events and go on trips
and things like that.
Yeah, I think that I was able to be more comfortable
in that environment
because I also had people that related to my upbringing
and I had things in common with.
After meeting and becoming really close
with one of my best friends now, Michelle,
who's another Korean American,
I just kind of really loved the way that she embraces
that aspect of her identity.
My mom, she started a business with her brother
doing education consulting.
So they would bring like international students
to the States and help them go through high school
and like apply to colleges.
My mom and I were able to bond over K-dramas
like we would both like sit down on the couch
and watch them together.
But also like our trips to Korea
because they're usually just like family trips
and so it was a time where we were able to,
spend like good quality time together.
To me, it means being able to
experience and appreciate both sides of my upbringing,
being able to appreciate and learn
what my parents went through
and what their lives were like
while also relating it to mine
in growing up in the States.
A really important lesson that I learned
was to not sell myself short.
I think for a while I'd always kind of doubt myself
and not put myself out there, try new things
because I was always scared.
And I think that that really hindered me
and it took me a while to learn that
I am able to do a lot of things
and like build that confidence in myself.
Just don't doubt yourself
because you're capable of a lot of great things,
and if you just put your mind to it and put in the work,
I think that you'll be surprised at
how much you're able to accomplish.
My name is Faith Kim
and this is my Korean American Story.
(upbeat music)