2017-2018 | Fall

“I’m from the suburbs of Massachusetts so pretty much a middle of nowhere New Englandy kind of place. I live in a forest, like down the road there’s actually a forest. I honestly chose NYUDC because I was applying when I thought Hillary Clinton was going to win. I was trying to intern at the White House and that didn’t work out but I still decided to come here because I’ve always been kind of interested in D.C and what goes on here. Since NYU had a campus here I figured I should might as well go for it. My parents were actually really pumped and it was okay with them comparatively because for junior year I lived in China so D.C is a bit closer and I can just take a bus back so they were much more on board with this. I was personally more terrified for D.C because Mike Pence is vice president, and that’s pretty horrifying. I’ve been going to a lot more protests here and I have a lot of strong opinions so I made some signs – yea, say no to fascism.”

– Nicholas O’Toole | Liberal Studies Program

“My parents are both from Korea. My dad grew up in a rural area and my mom’s from Seoul, the capital. They first met on a blind date actually. I heard it was really awkward. I guess cause my mom’s shy and my dad’s really outgoing so they just went at it. He’s a cool guy, a cool cat, and that passion attracted her I guess. I think that’s what made them come to the US, that passion. At the time, he had a dream of being a business entrepreneur, so they came to Bloomington, Indiana, to set up shop. I guess that passion rubbed off on me and made me want to pursue business, but I found later that I didn’t like it as much as politics. Honestly, it was the hardest thing to tell him, but after I did he was really cool about it. At first he asked, “Are you sure this is what you want?” but then he said, “Okay, if this is what you want to do.” He really helped me, pushed me, so I had no choice but to really know what interested me. Like I said, he’s a cool cat.”

– Jun Sung | Liberal Studies | NYU New York