Life of an INTJ
Eric Kao
Washington University in St. Louis
B.S. in Business Administration '12
Primary Major: Accounting
Second Major: Marketing
Minor: Applied Microeconomics
Resume (Updated 03/23/12)
Contact: ekao91(at)gmail(dot)com
Mission: To share my thoughts and finds with the world
My Taiwanese name is 高新明. Sometimes I'd like to think it means I'm bringing about a better tomorrow.
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Boba in California is better. (Taken with instagram)
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I cackled. A lot.
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WOW FANTASTIC BABY.
Since 2005, I have written a reflection after every year at the Taiwanese American Foundation (TAF), a week-long summer camp I have been attending since 2002. After attending last year’s ITASA Midwest Conference, I was amazed at the potential that the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association had to further the spread of TAFlove - the impact of irreplaceable friendships built on common interests and experiences.
I think my decision to apply for ITASA National Board last April/May made the biggest impact on my 2011-2012 school year. I did end up getting pretty absorbed into it and people started commenting how ITASA became my life (you know it’s actually true when people are telling you this, and it’s not just self-proclaimed). It wasn’t difficult though, because unlike some others on National Board, I had always been proud of being Taiwanese (now identifying as Taiwanese American) because besides going to TAF every year, my parents would bring me along to TAA, FAPA, NATWA, and other events, even as a child.
**Video recaps of the Summer Summit, Midwest Leadership Retreat, East Coast Conference and Midwest Conference have been consolidated here for your convenience.
**For my vision of what ITASA has the potential to be / can become, click here [link currently unavailable].
It’s been a long year, and I’ve had time to think about what ITASA means to me.
The main impact ITASA has made for me is allowing me to expand my circles of friends to an extent that was previously unfathomable. ITASA gives you the opportunity to connect with peers from all over the country, if you’re willing to do so. Sure, if you attend the conferences you’ll also have the chance to network with speakers, but to me, connecting is more important than networking. As the year progressed, I started to realize that some of these friends would be for life. Having a web of friends from all over the country - that’s something that can’t be replaced. As long as you care, the connection quickly becomes more than just ITASA, and you hang out just for the sake of hanging out.
The result? This last semester has been epic.
Chilling with new friends at Brown University
Karaoke Love!
Eating out at the Taiwanese 527 Cafe!
I’ve been adopted into UIUC TASC!
Hanging out in Times Square
Lunch at Gourmet Dumpling House!
Exploring Chinatown on a Sunday Morning with some Ohio State students!
Adopted by Northwestern Students as well!
Out to eat at Bob’s Noodles in Maryland, with students from JHU, UMCP, NYU, Rutgers!
Planking in the Smithsonian Art Museum
Despite all this fun, I still have one trip planned after finals (right before I graduate), where I will visit my friends at Illinois, Northwestern, and Ohio State. You may find that there’s just not enough time at conferences to catch up with all of the people you’ll get to know, so you’ve got to make time for your friends. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to meet who I have, and I really do hope that we’ll be friends for a long time. Even when we part ways, I like to paraphrase one of my friends and not say “goodbye” but “see you later,” because you all matter to me, and I’ll make sure that our paths do cross again.
Moral of the story? I highly recommend that you apply for ITASA National Board, especially if you’re passionate about Taiwan, and all that Taiwanese Americans have to offer. It can be a life changing decision, or at the very least, a very good one.
-Eric Kao, 2011-2012 National Public Relations Director
Connect with ITASA!
Here’s a brief post with some of the major Taiwanese events to I attended over the past school year.
It all started with Summer Summit. I got into LAX after being in class for less than a week, and got to chill with a lot of people. Nice weather, new friends, and Korean BBQ - what more could you ask for?
National Board in Southern California
I swung by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to cover their Taiwanese Cultural Day, which was a really cool event jointly held by two of the Taiwanese groups on that campus, TASC and TIA.
What’s cool? A majority of people in this photo are now my friends!
Early in second semester, Northwestern held the Midwest Leadership retreat, while I personally had already done most of the workshops in some other context, it was still a great experience to meet even more people.
Group photo at Northwestern
A week later, we found ourselves in Atlanta for the ITASA East Coast Conference - where I got to meet even more people! Giant groups came from the New York / New Jersey area, as well as Maryland!
ITASA National Board in Atlanta
Fast forward a month or so, and we wound up in Ann Arbor for the Midwest Conference, where another nearly 200 students got together - some people were meeting for the first time, and others were busy catching up after many years.
ITASA National Board in Ann Arbor
Connect with ITASA!
Hello people, I miss you.
2012 ITASA Midwest Conference
This is where my time goes.
I check every day in hopes it will hit 100 soon.
#Lifeofthenationalpublicrelationsdirector
While these are mere averages, I hope that it encourages Taiwanese Americans to embrace who they are. I feel like I could easily give an hour long presentation on this, but for now, just lend me five minutes of your time.
When you take a look at the Taiwanese American (TA) community, we make such a big impact. Fashion Designers. Entrepreneurs (Garmin, Nautica, Yahoo, Zappos..so much more). YouTube Celebrities. Musicians. Artists. Journalists. Scientists. Lawyers. We have the potential to be game changers.
Undoubtedly, the two figures I have put up are connected. Higher education has a positive correlation with higher income, and true enough I’m lucky enough to see pretty much all of my TA peers attend college. Sure, we can’t help what kind of situation we are thrown in when we’re born, but the tragedy of the inequity happens when we don’t utilize all that we’re given. I believe that with knowledge comes power, and with power comes responsibility. Food for thought: Perhaps this suggests that we should be leading the Asian American movement.
Previous “Taiwanese Pride” drew from being Taiwanese. What I hope to see is a “new” pride in being Taiwanese American. I’ve already seen the TA community do great things for the American society as a whole, and I’ve been waiting for my chance to do the same.
To be honest, I see so much potential in my peers, but our generation’s nationwide TA network is weaker than the past’s. This is why I joined ITASA and have really appreciated being appointed National Public Relations Director. My mission is to give students the opportunity to connect with each other, which helps us (as a community) begin to realize our untapped potential. Questions?
I’m on a mission to renew inspiration.
Photo by Diane Tsai - you should read her thoughts. She has some great things to say. (ITASA PR Represent!)
