Jiyoon Hwang, 28, who prefers to be called Jenny, is on her second year as a mechanical engineering student at Everett Community College.

Born and raised in South Korea, Jenny traveled to different Asian countries before coming to the U.S. She stayed in the Philippines for three months and in Malaysia for a couple months to study English. For pleasure trips, she has visited Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong. Besides speaking Korean and English, Jenny reads and writes the Japanese syllabaries Katakana and Hiragana.

In 2013, Jenny originally came to the United States to study Industrial Safety at Edmonds Community College. One day, a friend invited her to join a bowling club where she met Danny Kim, whom she married in 2015. Kim owns and runs the Teriyaki Zone restaurant on Evergreen Way.

Later, she transferred to Everett Community College to pursue mechanical engineering. Even though she knew the English language before coming to the U.S., Jenny says it was difficult at first, “I spent many hours in the tutoring center, especially the writing center.” To stay on top of her classes, Jenny wakes up at 6 a.m. every day. “I want to finish my degree at the University of Washington,” she said.  She hopes to work as an engineer at the Boeing Company.

Back in Ilsan, South Korea, Jenny’s parents own a construction supply business in which they keep themselves busy. In September Jenny returned home for a month and spent time with her younger brother, her parents and her old friends. Jenny says, “I miss my family and my country a lot.”

She wishes for everyone to have all the money they need to do whatever they want in life. Jenny wants to be rich and travel the world.