Alumni Spotlight: Christina Im

After graduating from Bishop Seabury as part of the Class of 2016, Christina Im headed to Northwestern University, located just outside of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. There, she began her planned career in the medical field by majoring in biological sciences with a concentration in cell biology and physiology. Im is currently in her second semester of senior year. In addition to her studies at Northwestern, Im participated in a study abroad program in Barcelona last summer and currently holds an internship in Chicago in the field of healthcare consulting. 

Looking beyond college, Im says, “I’m planning on going to medical school. I’m taking a gap year next year, and I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing for that yet, but I’m going to be applying to medical school during that. My internship right now is in healthcare consulting, so I’m maybe seeing if this is something I’d want to do for a year or two.” 

Outside of her academic interests, Im is the president of Northwestern’s benefit Special Olympics. Her passion for helping the special needs community with such events extends back to her time at Seabury, where she also helped organize Seabury’s Special Olympics. Regarding her experiences with the community, she says, “Once I started volunteering in Lawrence, I fell in love with the community, and that was the first thing I wanted to join once I got to campus.” After getting involved with the organization freshman year, Im served as engagement chair in her sophomore year before becoming president for her last two years of college. 

After attending a very small middle/high school in a town of fewer than 100,000 people, Im headed to college at a school with over 8,000 students enrolled located just outside of Chicago, one of the nation’s largest cities. While her new environment is very different, Im expressed that there was less of a transition than she had expected: “I thought that it would kind of be a little overwhelming, but organizations and classes and your residence halls, those help you make it feel smaller, and so when you’re walking down the street, going to class or something, you see a bunch of familiar faces, and so for me it’s small enough that I can always see a familiar face, but big enough that there’s enough people that I can always meet someone new.” Im further said that the most surprising aspect of college to her was that despite Northwestern having around 40 times the enrollment of her last school, it never really felt too big and always felt comfortable to her.

In addition, Im enjoys living outside of Chicago and the opportunities that the city provides. She says, “My favorite thing is going out to Chicago and trying new foods or experiences, so there’s like ice skating, and there are so many good restaurants in Chicago.” While she lives in a college town, Im also enjoys the experience of a big city, of which there are few in Kansas. Overall, while Im expresses fondness for the time she spent at Seabury, she is also enjoying her new life at Northwestern.