Ava McCollum

Youth Participant

Ava is a junior at Marlborough School in Los Angeles. Passionate about literature and issues surrounding immigration, she found KYCC’s opportunities to be all-encompassing. She is the creator of the BOS Coalition, an organization to highlight the stories of people impacted either directly or indirectly by Asian immigration. The interview skills she acquired through the BOS Coalition will allow her to continue to expand her writing and journalistic abilities in KYCC’s program. She realized the true importance of listening to the stories of others and is excited to interview elders in the community to fully appreciate their instrumental contributions to our society and culture as a whole. As she attends a school in fairly close proximity to Koreatown, she wanted to explore its rich cultural history. As such, she looks forward to strengthening her interests through acts of storytelling and journalism. She plans on continuing her passion for English in college.

Ava’s story →

Kimberly Espinosa

Youth Participant

Kimberly is a Zapotec community youth organizer and artist from Koreatown, Los Angeles. She currently attends New Open World Academy as a high school senior. Growing up in Koreatown has been a beautiful experience for Kimberly to connect and honor her ancestral roots by sharing dialogue and building community initiatives with other Indigenous relatives. Being raised around the elders of her parents’ family and hometown has encouraged her to actively listen and practice acts of care with the elders in her community and beyond. Kimberly’s work explores the diverse notions of home, which can extend beyond physical spaces. She was recently announced as the Youth Advocacy Recipient for the third annual Las Fotos Awards in 2021, presented by Las Fotos Project, which recognizes women-identifying and non-binary photographers. Kimberly plans to continue engaging in oral history and storytelling by documenting the stories of her relatives and community.

KIMBERLY’S story →

Lucy Hwang

Youth Participant

Lucy is a senior at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where she explores many of her interests. She loves learning history, exploring fashion, and long-distance running. She loves trying new things and has recently discovered her fascination with physics. She is president of the Peace and Social Justice Club and captain of the track and field and cross country teams. She has also learned to be active in her community, mainly as a part of KYCC’s high school BRIDGE program and the Hope Global Outreach Foundation. Born and raised in Koreatown, she has never learned of its history. However, through the years, she has learned to cherish its prominent culture and diversity. Through this program, she hopes to hone her writing skills and explore undiscovered aspects of her hometown. In the future, Lucy hopes to study economics and history at the University of Chicago.

Lucy's story →

Dale Lee

Youth Participant

Dale is a junior at New Covenant Academy in Los Angeles. He currently works as a student reporter at his school and is interested in learning more about journalism through the Koreatown Storytelling Program. He has lived in Koreatown his whole life and wants to discover more about its history and elders. One experience he wishes to use to his advantage is his close relationship with his grandparents. He’s learned a lot listening to their stories and hopes to gain more knowledge from Koreatown elders. He also loves to play basketball and is a part of his school’s team. In the future, he hopes to attend UCLA and study engineering.

Dale's story →

Eunice Shin

Youth Participant

Eunice is a senior at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES). As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Koreatown became familiar to her as she grew up in Los Angeles. She is the founder of the Film Production Club and co-captain of LACES Speech and Debate. Eunice won a gold key for photography in the Scholastic Art and Writing competition in 2019. She has since become interested in telling elders’ stories after interviewing her grandmother in December 2020. She was shocked to hear about Korea’s history during the Korean War and Japanese imperialism, and it sparked an interest in journalism and storytelling. After participating in the LACES Micheaux Project, where she learned about entertainment journalism, Eunice hopes to utilize her skills to learn more about Koreatown’s history. She is interested in attending USC for film production.

Eunice's story →

Jina Kang

Youth Participant

Jina is a junior at Marlborough School. Having lived in Koreatown since she was 5, she has learned to truly appreciate the amazing community, from the prospering culture to the wonderful elder community. She is so excited to share the stories of elders through documented history and to let them know that there are always people willing to listen. Having honed her interviewing skills through her school newspaper and at a club called Rise High Tutoring, which she co-founded, Jina looks forward to exploring her passion for writing and storytelling even further. She is a devout member of her school’s debate club and loves to dance ballet, which she has done since she was 5. Although unsure about the school that she wants to attend, she plans to major in economics and political science and ultimately wants to attend law school.

Jina's story →

Mia Giambalvo

Youth Participant

Mia is a high school sophomore at Larchmont Charter School. She’s been going to school in Koreatown for about four years and has taken an active role in improving the community. She is very involved in her school’s Community Service committee and is a member of Girls Build L.A., which works on different projects to help the neighborhood. She has been working as a waitress at the Solheim Lutheran Retirement Home in Eagle Rock during this COVID-19 pandemic. She volunteered there many times before officially getting a job. She hands out meals for the residents and helps out in the kitchen. It has proved to be a very meticulous and important job during the pandemic, as most of the residents are at risk.

Mia'S story →

Abbi-Hope Jihye Park

Youth Participant

Abbi is a sophomore at Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) in the creative writing conservatory. Her work has been published in Down in the Dirt Magazine, Plum Tree Tavern, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Quail Bell Magazine. She is also an editor for HerCulture, a magazine focused on amplifying the voices of women. At school, she is the TEDx Orange County School of the Arts organizer and is the president of OCSA’s Tech Team. During her free time, she enjoys spending time traveling with her family, coding, developing websites, and hanging out with her bearded dragon Mola, leopard geckos Jack and Jill, and crested gecko Leo.

ABBI'S story →

Sarah Jho

Program Coordinator

Sarah was born and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. She is a 2020 graduate of Yale College, where she double-majored in the history of science, medicine, and public health, as well as molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. At Yale, she helped lead Negative Space, an Asian American oral history project. She is entering medical school in the fall of 2022 and is interested in incorporating the medical humanities into her future career.