We are set apart because we can critically think.
I grew up in New York, and I genuinely believe that in this city you find the cream of the crop. Only the people who stick through the challenges, have a realistic view of Life in the Big City, and manage to make themselves stand out among the literal thousands of starry-eyed people who move to Manhattan can find success and joy here.
You inevitably learn a lot of things in college that you’ll never use in your daily life, but I tell this to literally anyone that will listen: I stand out in the world because King’s taught me to critically think through a Christ-centered lens. King’s is so specific [read: weird], but where other schools (even where I teach now) often instruct students on how to pass classes and regurgitate information, King’s truly taught me how to analyze. Uniting our love for God with our life in the world gets more difficult every year, but I can critique art and culture. I can write. I can speak well in love. I can defend myself with grace. Seriously, I credit King’s for almost all of it — encouraging me to always ask “why,” know myself and my faith, and reminding me that we are in the world and not of it.
I moved to California months ago and can see in a very concrete way how my experience at King’s and the spiritual maturity I gained from there has equipped me to start my life entirely over and rise above. I haven’t even mentioned my Big, my experience with professional theater, or my favorite job ever as a Student Security Worker, but those things can come from anywhere; what I have can only come from King’s, and it really will be a part of me forever.
Deryka Zhong, nee Tso
Former Student Security Assistant | House of Susan B. Anthony | Class of '17
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