Fall of my freshman year, I went to a Zumba class, as I frequently did that semester. It was early in the year, maybe the second week of the semester, and it was a few minutes before the class started. I waited with all the other class participants, many of whom seemed to know each other. The girls from my floor who I usually hung out with didn’t feel like coming to this class, but I was motivated, so I came anyway. A girl walked in and asked me and another girl standing next to me if this is the Zumba class. We said yes and then started up a conversation, and I found out that both of them were also freshman. That semester, we all went to the same Zumba class every week, but the following semesters, we didn’t really see each other much.
Flash forward to spring of sophomore year. I found out that Kim was hired mid-year as a Community Advisor, and I had been hired starting in the fall semester. I got to know her a little bit more, and then, we found out we had a class together.
Kim is a busy person; she’s involved in many things on campus and has a job at the career center. Yet you can tell that she’s the type of person who, even though she has a lot on her plate, doesn’t appear stressed out. She always has an interesting perspective to offer or some insight that you never thought of. She’s a sophomore marketing and communications double major, a CA, and an e-board member of a club as well as a participant in many other clubs, and she even has an on-campus job.
Fall of freshman year, Kim joined the debate team at TCNJ. Since starting out as a general member, she is now on the eboard as the publicist. As Publicist, she sends out emails about events they are hosting, and this year, she is also a tournament director. When Kim and I were talking about this article, the tournament she’d spent the whole semester planning was starting.
Since her first semester at TCNJ, Kim’s worked at the Career Center as the web and social media intern. In her position, she handles the Career Center’s social media accounts, such as the Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. She also is a part of managing the Career Center’s website, where she updates its policies, tips on resumes, and basically performs any other Career Center tasks. In anticipation of the Career Fair, she was the one behind its online advertising, and she tweeted about it as the fair was happening.
I got to reconnect with Kim when I met her at winter training at the start of this semester. She had applied for the position as a freshman and really wanted the position because she saw her friends struggling with the adjustment to college and her freshman year CAs were there for them. She said they were the upperclassmen who understood the experience in a way that adults wouldn’t necessarily be able to, because they had experienced it themselves a few years ago. She saw a CA as someone who you could relate to about student life and talk to about things you didn’t know.
However, last year, she was initially rejected from the position. She said she felt less confident in her individual interview, and that when she first found out about not getting the position, it was difficult, not only because of how much she wanted to be hired, but also because of others’ high expectations. Even though it was difficult, and incredibly disappointing, she said she got over it because she had to. She said she was upset at the beginning but knew she had to go on and that she would try again next year.
In the middle of the fall semester of her sophomore year, she got an email from Nailah Brown, the Residence Director (RD) of Travers Hall. When some people leave the position in the middle of the year for student teaching, study abroad, or early graduation, a spot opens up for people who were initially rejected but were among the higher performers of those who didn’t make the cut. The RDs had her application on file, remembered her from the interview and application process, and had a brief interview with her again, which resulted in her getting hired for the position for this semester. Kim said that she’s been able to relate to her residents who also were rejected from the position, and she’s been incredibly excited for her role throughout this semester, which inspired me with a fresh perspective.
I’m grateful to have gotten to know Kim better this year, and I look forward to everything she will accomplish at TCNJ. I hope that many of you get to know her because she’s honestly one of the most caring, genuine, and precious people I’ve met in college.
All images courtesy of Kim Tang