Andrew Kim ’15 Senior Profile: AMES East Asian Studies

My high school left me with a bad impression of the humanities. As a consequence, I spent my first two years here at William and Mary struggling to pursue a science major. Were it not for the classes I took with the Japanese department in my freshman year, there’s a good chance I would have dropped out of college altogether. Those classes which I originally took to fulfill GERs provided the most stimulating and challenging work I’ve ever done. My desire to learn more about the culture convinced me to pursue the AMES East Asian Studies major, a switch I only regret not making sooner. Now, I can appreciate culture in a way I never could before thanks to a newfound understanding of global history, analysis of cultural works, and ethnographic methodology.  AMES and MLL helped me in ways I don’t think even my professors can understand. They’ve done more than just help direct me towards a field of study. They’ve taught me a new way to look at life.