Class of 2004, Physiology and Neurobiology Major

Interviewer: Mikey Truong
Class of 2015/2016, History/Social Studies Education

“Travel as much as you can when you’re young”

Spencer told me travel and see the world as much I can while I have the chance. When you’re young, you have the time and the means to see the world. Before you settle down with your future career, go to Hong Kong, go to Tokyo, go to Paris, go to London. Learning takes place when you live your experience; if you want to see something for yourself, just take that chance and be there.

“Believe in your failures and take your chances”

Spencer went to UC-Riverside to pursue a PhD after deciding to stray away from the medical track due to his fear of needles. However, while pursuing his degree, he said that getting funded for your research to be successful has to fall into a certain cycle of time. In a sense, you have to get lucky to be successful in research. So Spencer took a risk: he took off school for a year to expand his website, and if it became successful, he would not come back. Years later, http://www.yummyyummytummy.com/ took flight and he never looked back. To pursue video games instead of neurobiology was definitely a risk, but with every risk bears great failure or exceptional rewards, and Spencer believed it may end in failure, but his drive created success.

“Expand your Horizons”

AsACC gave Spencer the ability to expand his horizons and a platform to focus his plethora of ideas. With the help of Sheila, Angela, and the Center, Spencer was able to develop into the person he is. The University of Connecticut is so fortunate to have a Center for students to confide in, when most universities do not have this luxury. Take advantage of the endless support and resource that we get from the Center. Success is bred when you expand your knowledge and expose yourself to diversity and that is exactly what AsACC gave Spencer throughout his college endeavors.

“Think about your Future”

Everyone always use to say that college is the best 4 years of your life, but Spencer never wanted that to be the case. He always said that he would look at his life currently and just think about where he wanted to be five years from now. “There’s only two days that matter, the present and five years from now.” Looking at your life in that sense, you are able to see your end goal, which will motivate you to do better. Clearly, Spencer took his own advice to heart, always looking forward and never looking back.

Spencer taught me a lot about how to achieve and believing that you’re capable to do anything, as long as you set your mind to it. I really enjoyed my talk with him and I gained so much, even in just one short hour. One thing that I’m definitely need to do is go to California after graduation, it seems like an awesome time!
Thanks Spencer, come visit soon!

Class of 2009
Major in Finance, Minor in Economics

Interviewer: David Han
Class of 2014 Major in Psychology

What did you enjoy about AsACC? 

I guess I enjoyed the ability to explore a lot of aspects of yourself. You can explore your identity as an Asian American, and your identity as a part of a minority group. Coming from high school and then being able to have space to ask questions and talk to people with similar experience. It allows you to grow and be more comfortable with yourself, I think that’s what I enjoyed the most. Angela and Sheila were also critical to my development. I still attribute a lot of my growth and where I am now to the things I learned from them.

What did you miss about it? 

I miss the freedom. During that period of time you think you’re busy…but you’re not really busy. You kind of need to go to the working world to understand. The freedom to go to the center whenever you want and meet new people was great. The freedom to be goofy and silly was awesome. I also miss the ability to make good friend through strange and awesome memories.

How did your involvement in AsACC impact your life?

I think it has hugely changed my life. My first conversation with Sheila was about my interest in joining the a cappella group A-minor. I had no singing experience, but she encouraged me to do it. That led me down the path of being in A-minor, which was an awesome community. I cherish and still communicate with members of A-Minor. It also led me to join the Leadership Legacy program. This conversation sparked the whole metamorphosis. These experiences gave me the confidence to do what I really wanted to do, and not what everyone expected me to do.

What did you do post-graduation from UConn? 

I went on a road trip across the country. We just kind of packed up and left. After that I moved to American Samoa. I moved to the South Pacific, where I was a teacher for a year. That really changed my life as well. I attribute it to Angela and Sheila for telling me to do what I want to do. This led me to my life path.

Where have you worked and where do you currently work? 

I have pretty diverse work experience. I worked in American Samoa, afterwards when to grad school in Boston. I studied public policy with a focus in international education at Harvard, then I interned for Yo-Yo Ma. I also worked for the State Department for Asian Pacific Affairs. Now I work for policy consulting for governments in Asian Pacific regions. I also do some work with National Geographic – see my page at http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/author/daniellin/

Did you live on campus? 

I went from Northwest, McMahon, South, and then to Charter Oak, all with the same roommate. He is still one of my closest friends!

How often do you visit? Have you been back to campus since graduation? 

Yes I have. I have go back whenever I can. I live in Hawaii so it’s not the easiest to get back. I at least try to see people from A-minor and from the cultural center that I was close to. I try to make a point to see them. I also went back most recently for my brother, because he was awarded the Charter Oak scholarship. I watched him receive it at Gampel.

What were you involved in while in you undergrad? 

At AsACC I was with KUBE and AMP, all the things you would be involved in. I was also part of the Leadership Legacy program that was a really great group. I had a lot of good friends in the men’s and women’s soccer team. A-minor was probably my biggest involvement, being president. A-minor was a really great experience for me, because I’m usually just into athletics.

What advice do you have for current students? 

I think there will be a point where you come to this cross road. There will be path that doesn’t make much sense, but you really want to explore it. It might come in multiple points in your life. I’m not saying not to do what makes sense. My advice is to do what is best for you. Don’t be afraid of picking something that doesn’t seem like the right path, just because it isn’t conventional.

What would you do differently if you had the chance? 

No, nothing. Not a thing. I am happily where I am now. And I think that I would not be here if it weren’t for all the decisions that I made.

Class of 2007: History Major and Asian American Studies Minor
Class of 2013: Master’s Degree in Social Work

Interviewer: Xi Lin
AsACC Student Staff Member
Class of 2015: Speech Language and Hearing Science Major

I had the pleasure to meet and enjoy a lovely afternoon at the UConn Dairy Bar with Sou. We had a conversation about her life before, while and after leaving UConn.

Sou was a History major and Asian American Studies minor while studying as an undergraduate at UConn. Since she was originally from the Manchester area, she did not live on campus and instead she commuted daily. Even though she did not get to experience what living on campus is like, but she did not feel like she missed out anything at all. Being a commuter student is one of the biggest reason how the Asian American Cultural Center(AsACC) became a big part of her undergraduate studies at UConn. She would visit the Center during her spare time for relaxing and eating. She did not start coming to AsACC through the Mentoring Program (AMP) like how most people started coming to the Center, instead a friend of hers from high school introduced this place to her. One of her friend asked her one day “Hey Sou, you wanna come for some free food?” the answer was yes of course. After attending the event she never left the Center and stuck with the Center for the rest of her college experience at UConn. She became a staff member at the center and that place became her second home.

Sou was not one of the students who knew right the way of what she wanted to do with her life, she was very confused and lost for her freshmen and sophomore year. One day she came crying to Angela(the Director of AsACC) and said that she doesn’t know what to do with her life but all she knows is that she wants to help others. After telling Angela, Angela helped her out by connecting her with one of her friends and got her a Case Management Position. That is where Sou spent 3 years of her life helping people after she graduated from UConn. While she was working as a case manager, she realized how knowledge deficit she was; therefore, she decided to come back to school.  She choose UConn to pursue her master’s degree in Social Work because she had loved UConn so much as an undergraduate student.

Sou was able to find what she likes and work with what she likes. She enjoys her job right now as an Advisor and she really wishes that everyone can and will find what makes them happy and practical at the same time. This is what she told me that inspired her the most: “You have the rest of your life to work so at least find a job that you love.”

Class of 2010
Molecular and Cell Biology & Cultural Diversity and International Health Studies Double Major

Interviewer: Josh Andrade
Class of 2014, Molecular and Cell Biology Major

I had the pleasure of speaking with Monica Shah about her time at AsACC, UConn, and post-graduation experiences.

When attending the university, she began as a Molecular and Cell Biology major on the pre-med track. Her interests took a shift over the years, however, and she graduated with an individualized major geared towards healthcare management. We’ll get to how she’s using what she’s learned to make steps to change the world (literally) in a bit.

Her involvement with AsACC began when she became a mentor then coordinator for the Asiantation Mentoring Program. After this, she could always be found at the center, simply hanging out with everyone there (she even was awarded the superlative “Most likely to be seen at AsACC”). Her amazing personality continued to shine through as AsACC’s candidate for the Homecoming Royalty Pageant and emcee for Asian Night. Also, she organized Styles of Asia, a runway fashion show exhibiting traditional and pop fashion from East, South East, and South Asia. This event accomplished one of her goals in bringing the different organizations of the Pan Asian Council together.

Monica then took her talents to New York City and served as an AmeriCorps member working with the South Asian Youth Action or “SAYA!.” Here, she did a lot of fundraising and public relations work. Additionally in SAYA, Monica piloted a mentoring program with 10 students that was heavily influenced by AMP + KUBE.

To add if you like – I also worked as a comprehensive Case Manager for people who have HIV/AIDS and Medicaid at the AIDS Service Center of NYC  (ASCNYC) while also serving on the board of the American India Foundation New York Young Professional Chapter where we raised funds for children orphaned because of HIV/AIDS in India. At ASC – I managed everything from health, financial issues, homelessness, harm reduction, etc for over 60 clients.

After her time in NYC, Monica enrolled in Johns Hopkins where she is working towards her Masters of Health Administration. The program requires a one year residency, and Monica was matched to Johns Hopkins Singapore. The hospital is a smaller operation than most, which affords her the ability to work directly with managers and report directly to her CEO. She is deeply immersed with strategic planning and risk management which is helping the hospital remain accredited.  Singapore’s healthcare system is one of the best in the world, and Monica is making sure in stays that way!

She is one of only two Americans in her office. But that’s okay though, she enjoys being in such a multicultural environment as there are people from all over the world located in Singapore. She has described life there as expensive, but extremely amazing. She has taken advantage of Asia’s budget airline system and traveled to numerous other Asian countries. If you’d like to get more of a picture of Monica’s time in abroad, I’d encourage you to take a look at her blog here: http://myendlesssummerinsg.wordpress.com/

Again, it was awesome to meet and talk to Monica. She is truly an outstanding woman and representing AsACC and the Huskies well!