John Lim ’19 remembers the day he landed in the United States. He was 10 years old and had just left South Korea. For the next year and a half, he, his brother, and his parents would share a bedroom until they could strike out on their own.
His parents didn’t speak English, and each began working two jobs.
“Thinking back, I now ask myself could I, like them, make such sacrifices for the benefits of my children? I’m not sure I could leave everything I know, live as an alien, and work so hard,” he says.
He is humbled that they were so focused on his success.
But he knows that his success will be returned to them.
“My family comes first, and I am the first born son,” he says. “I have to be the trailblazer for them.”
That blazing began at Lehigh.
Prior to the start of classes during his first year, Lim attended the Lehigh University Summer Scholars Institute (LUSSI), a six-week summer program for low-income, first-generation, underrepresented minority students.
“I was able to meet faculty, staff, and peers,” he says. “I would have been in shock on move-in day without it. But that day was easy because I was familiar with the people, infrastructure, and ecosystem. I felt like I already knew how to be a Lehigh student.”
And he was a student, changing his major six times! From his nerdy obsession with Greek mythology to his love of political science to his desire to work at the United Nations, Lim tried a few combinations. He settled on international relations.
While at school, he still had his focus at home.
“I went home every other weekend to help my parents,” he says.
By his senior year, he was not getting the job offers he sought. He needed to do two things: make himself more marketable and become a citizen.
His family finally hired a lawyer to help what Lim had been working on during his weekend trips home.
For marketability, he rolled the dice and remained at Lehigh for a fifth year to add an economics major.
“It was a calculated risk,” he says.
It paid off. Earning his citizenship helped too.
By the end of that fifth year, Lim had several offers. He knows it’s the degree he earned and the network he built.
“I have met so many incredible people at Lehigh who have an ease at maintaining relationships that overcome the socioeconomic and cultural differences at the surface,” he says.
He feels that most during Spirit Week prior to The Rivalry.
“I have so many good memories from those weeks when the energy shifts and people step away from their rigorous studies and programs to build community,” he says.
He continues to build community as a member of the Young Alumni Council, Alumni Volunteers for Admissions, and Lehigh Asian Alumni Network. He was the featured speaker at the first-generation commencement ceremony in 2021.
“I want to be living proof of success in order to encourage others like me to see that they can do this,” he says.
That success is trickling down. He took his parents on vacation this summer to Portland, Maine. He is planning more because he knows that his success grew from the roots of their sacrifices.