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Dong-Jin Kim

Biography

Dan Kim almost nonchalantly delivered the news of his acceptance to the graduate program at Cambridge; his mother began to cry. "She told me that all the years of 12-hour graveyard shifts were well worth it. I assured my parents that I would somehow find a way, as I have always done." This scholarship makes Dan's plans possible.

As part of the BYU honors program, Dan studied over a summer at Pembroke and King's Colleges at Cambridge. The Cambridge director of economic studies served as Dan's thesis advisor and recommended him for the graduate program. At Cambridge, Dan intends to research immigration reform and policies as a key to globalization.

Dan and his family placed education above all other priorities. Math came more easily than English to the 5th-grade Korean immigrant on Long Island. Persistence paid off, and by the time he was in high school, Dan advised his classmates in Advanced Placement English composition class. He started college with almost enough AP credits to rank as a junior. When preparation for the US Open in Tae-Kwon-Do conflicted with studies, school prevailed. Dan contented himself with his third-degree black belt, his two gold medals in the Utah Summer Olympics, and his state championship. But learning can occur through experience, and Dan also volunteered with Project Head Start and served as a missionary for two years. In college, he volunteered on projects to send mittens to refugees in Eastern Europe, built furniture for a local children's shelter, and sponsored five families for Christmas gifts. He taught martial arts and worked as a teacher's assistant and research assistant at BYU. He speaks Korean, English, and Spanish, and intends to use his talents in the service of transnational organizations' development programs.

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