Ben Kim

Student

“If I were in a university right now, I think I’d feel a little lost. SMC is a place where you can find your direction.”

The graduate of Beverly Hills High whose passion is hitting the slopes on snowboards and skis found a real awakening at SMC. “Before I came here, I thought, ‘This is going to be easy. It’s a community college, I’ll spend two years there, then I’ll transfer to UCLA. Nothing to it.’ Was I ever wrong,” says Ben Kim. “This place is really tough! And it’s put a big challenge in front of me, which is good. Because I was never all that great, academically,” he continues. “I kind of need a little reminder sometimes. And I’m definitely getting it at SMC.”

Ben’s competitive streak—which serves him so well in the sports he loves—is now being channeled into the classroom. “I’m taking computer science because I know I’m going to need that in the future,” says Ben. “I don’t know all that much about computers, but I’ve got a lot of friends here who are on the Internet and going on-line all the time. So even outside the classroom, I’m getting some good influences about some skills I need to develop.” Friends and friendships are things that Ben reports you shouldn’t undervalue while at college. “I’ve met a lot of really great people at SMC,” he says. “They actually make me look forward to getting to class here.”

Ben says that, right now, psychology is the field he’s most interested in taking a look at. “But I’m not ready to make any decisions after just one semester,” he says. “I really just want to experiment and explore. But for someone like me, I think SMC puts out a lot of choices, and then it’s just up to you to decide.”

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