Home Country: South Korea
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Economics and Philosophy
Please briefly introduce yourself and where you are from.
Hello, my name is Sunho Kim. I'm from South Korea and currently living in the Seoul metropolitan area. I went to the US in March 2016 and came back home in May 2024, after about eight years of study-abroad life in the US. I still miss those days in Portland — hanging out with friends and peers downtown, along the waterfront, and at the Rec Center. Portland is definitely my second home, the place where my heart feels the most at ease. All the memories and experiences I had there have shaped how I see the world, and I like where — and who — I am now.
Why Portland and why PSU?
People are often surprised when I tell them how I ended up in Portland in the first place. I actually went there to study coffee. Before moving to the US, I worked at a coffee shop as a barista, and my coffee teacher encouraged me to go to the US to learn the coffee business. Portland — like Seattle — is still, I believe, well known among coffee people. Long story short, I ended up redirecting my path toward pursuing a degree instead, which made my parents very happy.
What was your first impression of Portland? How did your impression change over time?
My first impression of Portland was a good one. Before I arrived, I looked it up on Google Maps and noticed it was a relatively small city surrounded by nature. Oregon's nickname, the Green State, turned out to be well earned — I really did experience the richness of nature in Portland, and I came to appreciate it deeply. The Rec Center organized all kinds of events centered around exploring the outdoors, and that alone told me I had landed in a city that took its natural surroundings seriously.
Could you briefly describe your professional and/or educational journey after graduating from PSU? What are you doing currently?
After graduating from PSU, I moved to Washington, D.C. to continue my studies in international relations at The George Washington University. I had earned a double degree in Philosophy and Economics at PSU and wanted to understand, in a more concrete way, how ethical decisions get made and on what principles. I felt like I was becoming someone who understood the world only through theory, and I didn't like that. I wanted to see the real issues playing out in the world.
I knew a master's program would still keep me in an academic setting, but I believed international relations could teach me what I was really looking for. During that program, I became drawn to climate issues around the world. Climate change had always been part of academic discourse, but the effort to actually address it wasn't something I — or many others — fully understood. The more I learned, the more I wanted to stay in the climate field and work for the people most vulnerable to its effects.
My first step in that direction was an internship at a local NGO in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, working with communities that needed outside support, and helping to connect them with existing public services. I was responsible for strengthening their monitoring framework using both quantitative and qualitative data. It was an eye-opening experience to see, up close, what people actually live through at the front lines of climate change's impact. Today, I'm still doing that kind of work, now in Ethiopia, where I serve as a program officer for a forest restoration project in Duguna Fango and Damot Weyde. I'm still figuring out exactly what more I can contribute to the world over the next five years of my career, but I know the direction I want to keep heading in.
What advice would you give a prospective international student who is thinking about studying in the United States?
If there's one thing I'd tell a prospective international student considering the US, it's this: the value of studying abroad — especially somewhere like Portland — is something you can't fully grasp until you've actually experienced it. I'd strongly encourage anyone considering it to go for it, whether short-term or long-term, depending on your financial situation and timing. It's worth it in ways that are hard to explain until you've lived it yourself.
What is your favorite memory of your time at PSU?
It's simple: the time I spent with my dear international friends. That's what I find myself missing most, even now.