Our signature cheer here at Penn State is WE ARE! That means that our community is one big family regardless of race or religion. Recently I got the chance to talk to Andy Kwon about our Penn State family through his eyes. Andy is a Korean-American student who was accepted into the summer session at Penn State and plans on majoring in business. His grandparents moved to America from Korea and he has lived in southeast Pennsylvania all his life. I met Andy and we decided to go into the dining hall to talk more about the diversity around this campus. On our way into the dining hall, we walked by a group of other Asian-American students all talking to each other in their native language. Andy immediately told me that he feels that people assume that’s how all Asian-American students are on campus. Andy told me that he thinks that, “people think that I’m only friends with other Asians and that we all talk to each other in Korean because we don’t know English very well”. The truth of the matter is that Andy has never had a conversation with somebody on campus in any other language besides English and he has made a large group of friends here of all ethnicities. Andy told me that “race has never been an issue for me. People like me for who I am, and the friends I have made have never been affected by my race”. Another stereotype Andy constantly hears as an Asian-American is that doing well in school comes natural to him and that he doesn’t have to work hard to get good grades. Andy told me how hard he had to work in high school to be accepted into Penn State and how hard he’s had to work this summer in order to maintain good grades while he’s been here. Andy said “I’m not as naturally smart as many people think I am. I’ve had to study harder than most people to get where I am now”.
Outside of the classroom, Andy has a ton of hobbies and interests that have given him the opportunity to meet so many people. He has played tennis all his life, and was one of the key reasons why his high school tennis team has been so successful over the past few years. Some of Andy’s closest friends, he made through the tennis team. They were people of all ethnicities, “it didn’t matter if they were Asian, Indian, White, Black, Jewish, Christian, everybody just got along so well and that’s what made them such good teammates and friends”. Andy also enjoys playing basketball and football for fun. Ever since I talked with Andy I have seen him playing basketball on the Pollock courts multiple times. His favorite athlete is Jeremy Lin because he “proved so many people wrong who believed that Asian-Americans can’t play basketball”. He told me that most of his friends from back home in high school were caucasian and that he didn’t care what race the people he hung out with were, he only cared if they were good people. His friends also never seemed to bring up the fact that he was Asian as well. He talked like them, dressed like them, and had the same interests as them so there never were any racial barriers between him and his non Asian friends in high school.
I then started asking him about his Korean culture outside of school and the traditions he keeps at home. Andy is a Catholic who is very involved at his Korean Catholic church. He has done community service and other events with his youth group in the church, and it is here where he has made so many friends in the Korean community. A solid majority of his closest Asian-American friends are his friends that he met at his church. “They’re not much different than my caucasian friends at school” Andy told me. He said he doesn’t have to change his personality when he’s with his Korean friends, because like his friends from school, he only chooses to hang out with the people who share common interests with him. Andy seemed to know a different Korean kid from his church at every high school he would go to for an away tennis match. He said that he “wishes more of his church friends went to his school because he really thinks that they would get along with his caucasian friends from school”. As for his traditions at home, Andy’s family celebrates all the holidays most Americans do. They have turkey on Thanksgiving and ham on Christmas and Easter. Andy says that his family has really adopted a western culture when it comes to holidays and traditions. The only holiday Andy’s family celebrates differently is New Years. Their Korean New Years is much more about paying respect to elders and people who have always been there for you. It’s a much different process than the average American New Years Eve party.
Overall I would say that Andy has adapted well to being a different ethnicity than most people on campus. His race has never gotten in the way of him making friends and meeting new people. He has a nice balance of caucasian friends from his school and Korean friends from outside of school, and that gives him the chance to be with people of all different ethnicities, even though everyone seems the same to him. I really think that Andy proves all the dumb stereotypes about Asian-Americans wrong. He doesn’t always speak in his native language, he isn’t a natural genius, and he lives a regular American life, because that’s what he is, an American. I’m glad I got a chance to meet and speak with Andy because he really showed me how similar people of different ethnicities can be, and how all those stereotypes of every different race or religion are just myths.
When we say We Are Penn State we represent our entire community. It doesn’t matter if what you’re race or religion is because none of that matters. Everyone here is just a student of Penn State, and that is a better group to be in than anything else. There will always be stereotypes about different groups of people, but that doesn’t mean they are true. The day our society can put those stereotypes aside and realize that were all humans regardless of where you’re ancestors came from is the day that we will be able to coexist peacefully on this planet.
