Sung Park

Student

“I never really strived for any sort of truth. I just had as much fun as possible. But this is the time to really look hard at life.”

In his second day on campus, Sung Park was looking around as though he were experiencing everything for the first time. “I’m just gathering my senses now,” he says. “There is so much going on that I hardly know where to look next. I feel like I’m just beginning to explore.” In a lot of ways, SMC really is a new world for Sung. “High school was a real mess, boring, and I didn’t do well. And of course, I didn’t get into any of the schools that everybody expected me to be in. I really ended up at SMC simply by luck,” he says. “I’m hoping that the school will get me on track, and judging from the English class I just had,” he says, “I’m fairly certain that it will.”

Like a lot of brand new graduates of high school, Sung confesses to being a little stunned by all his new possibilities. “I feel like I’m at the end of a funnel and everything is just opening up,” he says. And one “opening” Sung clearly sees is a road to a career in art and design.

“I’m doing my GE classes this semester,” he says. “But I’ll be filling up with art classes next time. I’m ideally heading for the realm of design, in interiors or packaging,” he says. “I’ve taken a few classes at Art Center in Pasadena, which my teachers told me I was destined for. But I’ve had reservations: I want more of an intellectual stretch. Somewhere without such a money orientation and a corporate mentality.”

Sung is on a quest for his own brand of truth and very particular way of expressing his talent through art. “Design is everywhere, in everything we see,” he says. “I’m hoping that whatever I design will be unique and have value. Something enduring. But first,” he adds with a laugh, “I hope a lot more art classes will be opened up.”

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