KAC Oregon sponsored 4 Korean American college students to attend the The National College Leadership Conference (NCLC). NCLC is an opportunity for young Korean Americans to meet established professionals in their field of interest and learn essential leadership skills to assist them in their future professions. This year’s conference was held at Pepperdine University in June.
Each month KAC OR will highlight each of the students and their experience at the conference and provide an opportunity for them to share a little about themselves and their experience. July’s spotlight is on Sara Tajanlangit, a student from Oregon State University.
Sara Tajanlangit grew up in Southern California to a Korean-born mother, but it was not until college when she began to explore her Korean-American identity. Subconsciously, the Korean culture has been deeply ingrained in her life, especially since she wants to use the acquisition of languages with sentence structures differing from English to benefit communities with developmental disorders; the Korean language being one of the, if not the main, language in what she hopes to be her future research. Currently, her research pertains to cognitive psychology at Oregon State University where she studies Advanced Chemistry and Psychology, hoping to attend graduate school in her home state within the next three years.
KAC NCLC: “Personally, I have difficulty making friends with others who are in the Korean community or people fascinated with Korean culture, especially with the cultural/language barriers and the fascination with specifically Korean culture amongst non-Korean people due to the extreme popularity of KPOP. NCLC was a beautiful environment where I could explore my identity and connect to other Korean Americans who have the same ideologies and goals as me. The speakers were divided interestingly, in which the older generation had a survival mentality while the younger had a more individualistic mindset despite both overlapping with similar origins. The most important takeaway from the conference was to foster a community for Korean people living in America because we are often so isolated from each other; the speakers talked at us about this, then we, the students and counselors, were able to apply it to each other, connecting and growing as Korean American young adults.”
Thank you, Sara, for sharing about yourself and your experiences at NCLC! Best of luck as you embark on your journey!
