[Student Reporters] College Trip Awakens Sophomore's Dream

Hye-Sun Kim / <10th, Sunny Hills High School>

Airplane tickets? Check. Backpack? Check. College dream ready to be found? Check.

For Corona del Mar High School's sophomore Grace Juyoung Kim who came to America two years ago she needed to check all these before she went on the East Coast Ivy League College Trip from Apri 6-11.

"Through the college trip I wanted to set a better and clearer goal to go to a good college and to get motivation" Kim said.

Kim and 25 other students and parents from different parts of Orange County visited Harvard MIT Brown Yale Columbia Princeton Upenn and Johns Hopkins University.

"I think I achieved my goal and went further. I even decided to set my goals to go to a university specifically Upenn" Kim said. "If I didn't go [on this trip] I wouldn't have thought of this. My future was like an unclear mist but now after the trip it's really clear."

Kim added more changes that occurred due to the college trip.

"Before I wasn't confident but afterwards I think my way of studying changed and built my confidence" the sophomore said. "I learned that I have to really study harder now and manage my time to go to my dream school. Also I have to do more extracurricular activities."

Kim said she would definitely suggest to others to go on a college trip because it awakened her dream.

"During the short time I think I learned a lot so I suggest it" she said. "Before the trip I never dreamed of going to an IVY league college but it gave me a dream which made me want to try and positively changed many aspects of myself. I found happiness through the trip."

She said she regrets that she wasn't able to go earlier and that her English is not as skillful as she wishes it to be.

Because she went on the trip by herself unlike some students who brought their family along she found out how significant her family was to her.

"As I separated from my family the time I was apart from them allowed me to realize the importance of my family and appreciation for them" Kim said.

Kim mentioned she will not forget this trip and she wants her dream to come true.

"By giving the college souvenirs to my friends and family and using them myself the colleges and memories of the trip really sank in" she said.

She said the only downside of the trip was that its length was too short.

"It was too short so I couldn't learn every little detail of each school" she said. "That was a pity."

"Before I left my parents told me that before I become a junior [this college trip] is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a turning point in my life" Kim said. "The way the mind thinks is important for success because the results depend on how the person thinks and the trip helped me find the right way."