Spring — 2008

Iris Pyo

General Education

“I got accepted at another school but, because I’m not a citizen, it was too expensive. SMC is making my education possible—at a much better price.”

She was in her very first days at SMC, but was already feeling serene and confident about it. “It feels really good to be here, so far,” says Iris Pyo, whose entire family moved here years ago from Korea. “We all came here, actually, just to study, because education is a very important thing in my family. And my sister is studying here, too. My family is just very supportive of me, and they’re very pleased that I made SMC my choice.”

Iris reports having one of the very best possible reasons of all for studying: exploration. “I really don’t have a major yet, because I just got out of high school and I just don’t know what kind of job or career I want. So I’m just taking my time and sampling a lot of things. And I think SMC is just the perfect place to do that. You have so many choices about things you can study here. And for someone like me—who’s just beginning to look for a direction—all the choices that I have about what to do next feels almost like a luxury. And I don’t feel any pressure about deciding on my major, because I’ve met so many people who are relaxed and friendly and encouraging.”

Iris reports, “I just heard about this class called Counseling 20, and that’s something that I’m definitely going to check out. It’s a class that’s supposed to teach you about all the things SMC has to offer to students. But I guess it lets you know about how to be a good student, too, so you won’t waste a lot of time taking classes that won’t help you transfer.” Iris adds, “Just now, studying foreign languages seems like the way I might want to go—and you certainly hear a lot of those at SMC!—but we’ll just see….”

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