The second-grade bathroom was my nest as a lost bird who immigrated from South Korea. Classmates barged into my comfortable nest diurnally with their “hi’s” or “what’s your name’s”. As an immigrant from South Korea who left her comfortable past behind to move to a peregrine place called America, I neglected everything and everyone. Halfway through my second-grade year, however, my teacher pulled me out of the classroom with a book tucked under her arms. Every sentence of the dolphin books she read to me from then on were read loudly carefully and I recited, slowly and steadily. As she patiently read to me for days with her genial voice, I started to take baby steps out of my nest into the real world. My teacher’s small yet caring gesture completely altered my school experience as English became an enjoyment. 

My world changed following my teacher’s daily readings: I gained the confidence to step out of my little nest day by day. I began to master and teach my classmates handball during recess as my competency in English improved significantly. My unexpected capability at making new friends in this way brought me to a realization that I am capable of anything if I pour in the effort. Although it took a notable amount of courage to step out of the nest, I was able to thrive after persevering through the tall walls of my own doubts, my own fear, and my own judgment. By interacting with more people, multiple new opportunities opened up to me. I was able to partake in several volunteering services and got exposed to plentiful leadership positions in organizations where I became an English instructor for students around the world. Soon after, helping out became my passion. 

Helping meant significantly more to me than anything. Helping brought me to become self-satisfied at myself for I couldn't let the people who were mirrors of my past self pass by me without getting the help they needed. I wanted to provide the best opportunity and change someone’s life for people just as how one person impacted my entire life journey. As a person who struggled to find the ray of happiness during the times when I had no one to rely on, helping out led me to see the beaming smiles of people every day. These smiles, and these connections, broadened my world. People I helped introduced me to their fellow folks, and I was given the opportunity to familiarize and help out a network of people and build a close-knit community. Eventually, these series of networks helped me to secure a spot as a volunteer at Ronald McDonald House Charities. After broadening my world even more, I was given an opportunity to go on a mission trip to the Navajo nation to provide a hand for those in impoverished communities.  

In the Navajo nation, a girl I met was unfamiliar with English and she never spoke. One day, while she was writing a thank you letter for the lead pastor on the mission trip, she looked at me puzzled and asked me how to spell “thank you”. I spelled it out letter by letter, and she repeated the words verbally and scrawled the exact letters. I thought about how teaching "thank you" would impact the girl later in the future. A simple phrase would give her a chance to express her gratitude and repay someone else’s kindness. As a one-point-five generation immigrant, I knew how hard it was to learn English, and she used all her effort to express her thanks. Not only that, when she was this impoverished, she managed to acquire pen and papers on her own. Imagining all the hard effort put into the process, the thought brought me to tears. The phrases from the book that my teacher read to me in second grade were what commenced the direction of my life and I wanted to do the exact same for her. 

My strive won’t be big, but my strive would eventually become bigger and bigger. If it only takes a few conversations, a few “hi’s”, and a few smiles to change someone’s life, I want to dedicate my life to helping out people in my community. My baby steps to help others will soon become leaps, and will eventually, become wings that will guide me to anyone in the world.