Student Success Stories:
Kim
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September 20, 2004. This was the
day I stepped foot on Highline Community College's
campus as a college freshman.
My experience, up until that point,
had been like a tape played in a crazy, fast-forwarded
motion. Just three years earlier, I arrived in America
as an immigrant, speaking no English. After eight
laborious months, I had managed to gain college-level
reading comprehension, only to be advised by a counselor
to take a Drama class instead of a Freshman Honors
English course because of my lack of fluency.
When I started Highline, I was desperate for a way
out. High school was a bitter reminder that even though
I had mastered the language, I did not understand the
culture. No matter how light my accent was, I still
could never fit in. |
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Highline was my haven, and for the first time
in three years, I felt comfortable being at school. Fall Quarter
went by like a flash, and just a few days before my finals, I got a
surprising e-mail from my writing instructor. He recommended that I
join the Honors Program.
Within the first few weeks of Honors 100, it
soon became apparent that I could no longer go through life
unnoticed. Dr. Barbara Clinton, as well as other instructors, for
reasons still mysterious to me even until this very day, believed
that I was gifted, that the story I wrote for my first personal
statement was good enough to be published, and that I really had a
shot at being accepted at some private, prestigious liberal arts
institution…
I did not believe them, but at the same time, I
was also intrigued by what they thought were within my capabilities.
I wanted to give it a try because suddenly, there were people who
believed in me.
By the time I graduated from Highline Community
College in June 2006, I was an Honors Scholar, Lead Writing
Consultant of the Writing Center, Chapter Vice President of Phi
Theta Kappa, and Treasurer of the Creative Writing Club. One of my
stories was published in the 2006 Edition of the Arcturus.
I have been accepted into Whitman College and will start my journey
there in August 2006 as a junior.
I first came to Highline looking for an escape
route. What I found was not the quiet way out but an opportunity to
recognize my strengths and my self. What I found was a door that I
was able to open.
Last updated:
July 30, 2007
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