Originally from South Korea, Grace Hyemin Kim (SFS’23) used her time on the Hilltop to meaningfully engage with the pervasive social issues of the time, which positioned her toward a future working in humanitarian and international development.
During her first year, Kim explored the expansive line-up of classes that SFS has to offer, finding herself drawn to learning about the systematic issues that prevail in society and their root causes. In reflecting on her academic path at Georgetown she says, “I became confident that majoring in international history would provide me with a full scope of understanding that encapsulates all the fields I am interested in, such as international affairs, politics, and culture.” Kim’s studies also included concentrations in medical anthropology and U.S. law, as well as a minor in Arabic and proficiency in Korean.
As part of her SFS curriculum, Kim examined how ideas of masculinity and femininity have shaped the U.S. legal system in the class Gender and the Law with Professor Sarah Collina. The class is a fond memory that Kim will take from Georgetown as she found it to be a space of acceptance where she had the ability to make meaningful personal connections to the greater narrative discussed in class. She says, “I highly valued this atmosphere and appreciated the feeling of having my thoughts and life experiences heard in a classroom setting.”
Living and Working in DC
Beyond her learning inside the classroom, Kim also followed her passion through her work at the Center for Global Health Science and Security where she became a research assistant at the beginning of her senior year. She says, “Working at the Center has been a professionally enriching experience for me because I worked intimately with a wide range of legislative texts, public health policies, and pandemic responses issued in Singapore and Jordan and earned skills in data entry and qualitative coding while doing so.”
Kim was selected as an immersion fellow for the Worker Justice DC Alternative Spring Break, a week-long social justice immersion program for students looking to examine labor and the working poor in DC. During the program, Kim was able to meet with social justice organizations and participate in discussions surrounding intersectional solidarity, the empowerment of laborers, and the greater inequalities and oppression at play.
“The immersion was not only an enormously valuable learning experience that greatly influenced how I understood the intersectionality of race, gender, capitalism, and environment in the context of DC, but it was also an opportunity to meet and engage with some of the most thoughtful, passionate, and sympathetic people and I have known at Georgetown – I could not ask for a better way to spend my last spring break in undergraduate.”
Beyond the Georgetown Campus
Off-campus, Kim’s pursuit of international affairs took her to the Embassy of Jordan where she worked as a policy research intern. “During my time there, I was given an opportunity to attend numerous think tank events and cover White House press briefings and gaggles that address Middle Eastern affairs. The tasks I was assigned to perform incentivized me to constantly stay up-to-date with U.S. foreign policy and current events in the Middle East, which helped me succeed in the classes I was taking as an Arabic minor. Furthermore, the rigorous, fast-paced environment of the workplace gave me a realistic sense of what it is like to work directly in the field of foreign service.”
Kim also took the time to soak in the DC environment, exploring the outdoors and visiting historic sites. “I like taking advantage of how walkable DC is. When the weather is nice, I take myself on a long walk to Capitol Hill, hike at Foundry Branch Valley Park, or run by the Potomac River. On days when I have a lot of work to do but still want to break the Georgetown bubble, I study at the Library of Congress or MLK Library.”
What Comes Next
Following graduation in May, Kim will remain in DC, working as a health and life science researcher at a strategic advisory firm. “After that, I hope to work for international development organizations that provide ethical and sustainable humanitarian response and disaster relief.”
In reflecting on her time on the Hilltop, Kim says that the guest lectures hosted by SFS and Georgetown will be a part of what she will miss the most. After attending an event featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci this past March, she realized how profoundly these impacted the shape of her academic path.
“I realized that there will be no such place like SFS that provides students with enormous opportunities to learn from some of the most renowned experts in the field. I am grateful for all the lessons I have learned from the lectures I attended during my undergraduate career and will miss the times when I waited hours in line outside of Gaston Hall and Riggs Library.”