{"id":11150,"date":"2021-03-01T16:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=11150"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:49:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:49:01","slug":"naomi-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2021\/03\/01\/naomi-kim\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentors Helped Naomi Kim, Now She\u2019s Returning the Favor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Naomi
A mentor nudged Naomi Kim to get involved with multicultural clubs when she was homesick. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Naomi Kim<\/a> is the friendly face at the Carson Center for Student Success\u2019s<\/a> front desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether she\u2019s greeting students in person or through the virtual desk available during COVID-19, Kim knows how much a smile or a word of encouragement can mean to fellow Cougs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior at the Carson College of Business, Kim has packed leadership roles, clubs, professional networking, a double major, and close friendships into her time at WSU. But early in her freshman year, Kim struggled with acute homesickness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went from sunny beaches and warm skies to the Palouse, which is great, but it was definitely an adjustment,\u201d says Kim, who grew up in Waipahu, Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student mentor at WSU\u2019s Office of Multicultural Student Services nudged her to get involved in multicultural clubs at WSU, which launched her into campus life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also owe a lot to the Carson Center,\u201d says Kim, who will graduate in December with double majors in management information systems<\/a> (MIS) and business management with a human resource focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pursuing a double major<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Helping others achieve personal growth has always appealed to Kim, who initially considered a teaching degree. When she realized she was more interested in business than the classroom, a Carson Center advisor helped steer her to human resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A coworker at the Carson Center also encouraged her to pursue a second degree. \u201cHe was another student from Hawaii\u2014an upperclassman who kind of took me under his wing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an introductory class, Kim was eager to take more management information systems courses. But she didn\u2019t see MIS fitting into her human resources track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe told me I was ahead in my classes, and I\u2019d still be able to graduate on time if I added MIS,\u201d Kim recalls. \u201cAnd look at me now\u2014I\u2019m doing that!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having the MIS skills will give her flexibility in her career path, says Kim, who could picture herself in project management as well as human resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like working with people and working with teams,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I like knowing that I\u2019m making an effective contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving students and the WSU community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kim brings those attributes to her Carson Center job, says Sheena Kerr<\/a>, the center\u2019s office manager and administrative assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNaomi is a key player in managing our virtual front desk. She is the face on Zoom students first see,\u201d Kerr says. \u201cShe\u2019s very knowledgeable about directing students to get the help they need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether she recognizes it or not, Kim mentors other students in her front desk role, says Stacey Smith-Colon<\/a>, the Carson Center\u2019s assistant director of academic advising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe helps them understand expectations and the system so they can advocate for themselves,\u201d Smith-Colon says. \u201cWe see our student employees as part of the team that supports student success, and Naomi has really taken that to heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like serving students and the WSU community,\u201d Kim says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s a Carson senator this year, representing business majors in student government through the Associated Students of Washington State University. She\u2019s also a student mentor for WSU\u2019s Office of Multicultural Student Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that role, Kim has come full circle. Now she\u2019s the mentor keeping in touch with WSU freshman from multicultural backgrounds. Through regular text messages to 21 freshman, she gets to know them, asking how they\u2019re doing and if there\u2019s anything she can help them with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really validating to know someone is rooting for you\u2014someone who has been through the same things you\u2019re going through,\u201d Kim says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A senior, Naomi Kim has packed leadership roles, clubs, professional networking, a double major, and close friendships into her time at WSU. But early in her freshman year, Kim struggled with acute homesickness. A mentor nudged her to get involved in multicultural clubs at WSU, which launched her into campus life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[634],"featured_media":18134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[425,595,428],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11150"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18840,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150\/revisions\/18840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11150"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=11150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}