{"id":124072,"date":"2021-11-04T09:46:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T13:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//?p=124072"},"modified":"2025-06-24T15:16:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:16:55","slug":"ucfs-historical-graduation-ceremony-is-also-personal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//ucfs-historical-graduation-ceremony-is-also-personal/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072//","title":{"rendered":"Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s Historical Graduation Ceremony is Also Personal"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend, Sharon Park /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201919 /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201920MS is traveling 900 miles for what will appear to outsiders to be a five-second walk across the stage at Addition Financial Arena./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Like the rest of the 1,700 participating graduates expected to attend this special commencement celebration, Park completed the requirements for her degree in 2020, but the Florida Board of Governors required all of Florida/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s state universities last year to hold virtual commencement ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cHonestly, I thought the university talked about a make-up ceremony last year because they didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019t have the heart to say /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2018canceled,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019 /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d says Park, who earned a master/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s degree in materials science and engineering./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Many graduates from the spring, summer and fall classes of 2020 shared her skepticism and went on with their lives and careers. Park moved to Baltimore to begin her doctoral research at Johns Hopkins. A year passed. Then an unexpected email hit her inbox announcing the opportunity for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s 2020 graduates to reserve a spot in the arena for an in-person ceremony. Appropriately, it would be held on the Friday of Homecoming weekend./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cAt first I had to think about leaving my research team at Johns Hopkins,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d says Park, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cbut then I thought about my parents./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Making the Most of an Opportunity/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Every returning graduate has a personal reason for coming back to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ for that brief moment on stage./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Park and her younger sister, Yuri, grew up in Apopka. Park remembers her mother not being at the breakfast table on most mornings. After school she and Yuri would go directly to their father/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s dojang, where he taught taekwondo. Park would complete her homework in the dojang, train with her dad and ride home with him. It became her daily routine./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cI didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019t completely understand why my mom was gone for so many hours every day,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d says Park./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

She also wondered why her mother stressed academics so much./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cMom helped with my schoolwork as much as she could after dinner. I could tell our education meant a lot to her./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

Park/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s prowess in math and science grew so rapidly that eventually her mother could only offer encouragement, while her dad instilled the focus and discipline of taekwondo. Park used every bit of it to excel. She was accepted into Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s mechanical engineering program and earned a spot in the McNair Scholars Program, which provided a path toward post-graduate work./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

In addition to learning about formulas and equations, Park developed an ability to think critically during her undergraduate education, and she began to finally realize something about her parents. She/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019d known the basic facts: that her mom and dad immigrated from South Korea in the early 1990s, as Park says, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cfor the reason any immigrant does, because they saw the U.S. as the land of opportunity./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d With a changed perspective at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, she also appreciated what they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019d left./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cThey sacrificed everything they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019d known in Korea: their jobs. Their relationships. Their language,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cThey literally had to start over when they came to the U.S./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

In the past 20 years, South Korea has rapidly developed both socially and economically. But when Hyun and Mi Young Park lived there, they faced limitations. They grew up in impoverished communities and had limited access to higher education. At that time, just one in three high school graduates in Korea went to college. As recently as 2009, 50% of the women in the country were employed, and 6% had either enrolled in, or completed, graduate school./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

This explained why Mi Young pulled such long hours at a beauty-supply store and why Park and her sister spent so much time in the dojang. The land of opportunity wasn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019t just for mom and dad./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cThey wanted to make sure my sister and I could have what they never had growing up /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2014 the best education possible,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d Park says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201cNow I realize that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u2019s all they thought about./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/124072/n