As Seabury glides into the dreary winter months of the second semester, a new ray of sunshine joins our community all the way from South Korea: eighth grader Becky Shim. Shim arrived right before the semester started, and is living with a student who is also new to Seabury: Neela Rangarajan, who joined us as a sophomore in the fall.

Shim explains that BSA is quite different from her school back home, including the lockers in the hallways and cleaning tables after lunch, but she explains the biggest change is the movement.

“We are moving through classes, but in South Korea we stay in the [same] room and teachers join the classes,” says Shim. “Almost everything is different from South Korea. I think it’s better [at Seabury].”

Rangarajan says that her time at Seabury has already been superior to that at Olathe West, and she is excited for the opportunity to continue her deep love of science here. 

“I really was sad that I missed Biology…and I cannot wait to take all the science electives next year,” she remarks.

Shim notes that though she eventually wants to become an artist, her favorite subject is math. “Every other subject I have to write it in English or I have to communicate with English, but in math, I can only solve it by some formulas,” she explains.

Becky expresses that while she misses her friends, family and the reptile cafe they own back at home, she is excited to be fulfilling a dream of hers. “I always wanted to come to America and study some different culture…I have no siblings [back at home]. I love having a sibling [here], like having a sister.”

Even though they have only lived together for around two weeks, when Becky and Neela interact, they cannot help but light each other up. Whether they are playing with their new cat, Yuuki, eating ice cream, shopping or playing video games, you can be sure that they are laughing.