Kristina Kim is a rising sophomore at Columbia College. In the Santiago Virtual Internship Program, she is working with two different projects under the Santiago Center’s “Chile @ Columbia” initiative. The following is her story.
I grew up in Vancouver, Canada and moved to Seoul, Korea when I was twelve. I graduated from an international school in Seoul last May. At Columbia, I plan to study East Asian Studies or Sociology. During my free time, I love to travel, go to museums, and watch movies. My favorite museum in New York is the Frick Collection!
This summer, I am working on two projects with the Columbia Global Center in Santiago. The first project is interviewing three Chilean scholars - Professors Juan Asenjo, Pedro Rosso, Giorgio Solimano - who formerly taught at Columbia. The idea is to document their experiences teaching and researching at Columbia and living in New York, as well as how such experiences shaped their careers in Chile.
The second project is a historical research project on the lives of seven Chilean feminist leaders who all once studied at Columbia. Under the guidance of Professor Nara Milanich and the Santiago Center Director Karen Poniachik, my colleague Yuxiu Lin and I are reviewing Columbia’s archives and other databases to research the women’s experiences at Columbia and trace the effect their experiences at Columbia had on their fight for women’s rights upon their return to Chile.
Both projects are a part of the Santiago Center’s “Chile @ Columbia” project that aims to document and celebrate the stories of notable Chilean Columbia alumni and highlight the impact Columbia has had on the lives of these individuals.
I find it remarkable that although we are all located in different regions of the world, we share a common link that is Columbia. We are all a part of this bigger community and through this link, we are able to collaborate effectively despite the challenges of working virtually like varying time zones.
