Facilitator Corner: Diana Park
FIUTS Facilitators are student leaders from all over the world who welcome new international visitors, help organize events, and lead activities for hundreds of students each quarter. Read on to find out more about the FIUTS facilitator experience from Diana Park!
Name: Diana Park
Country: South Korea
Major: Oceanography and Geology
Class: Junior
FIUTS Facilitator Since: Fall 2015
Brief Introduction:
My name is Diana Park, and I’m from Daegu, South Korea. My Korean name is Minji, but I chose to use my English name which I picked when I was in 3rd grade English class because Minji is a super common name in Korea. I love the ocean and the Earth (the nature and humans on it), so I decided to study Oceanography and Geology here at the University of Washington. During this journey, I found FIUTS, and it’s been a pleasure being a facilitator here.
What does it mean to be a FIUTS facilitator?
"It took me a while to find out the right leadership style for me, and FIUTS was the place that helped me in this progress."
I’ve never considered myself as a leader before. I was a shy person hiding in the background. I admired those leaders who speak up with a large voice. It took me a while to find out the right leadership style for me, and FIUTS was the place that helped me in this progress. I started to facilitate to gain leadership practice. I met other facilitators and learned from their strengths. Sometimes a number of new people who I have never met during an event seemed overwhelming. But I realized whenever I leave an event after facilitating, I actually enjoyed hanging out with them. I met so many new friends from facilitating, and I can’t even imagine how I would have made friends here at a huge campus if I didn’t find FIUTS. One of the best decisions I’ve made in my college experience was joining FIUTS to become a facilitator. All the peer facilitators and staff are so friendly, and it gives me a safe, judge-free atmosphere to try new things as I lead. Even though I started to facilitate to become a better leader, nowadays, I notice that I check the FIUTS website often to sign up to facilitate for fun. It’s such a valuable experience in my college life, and I would not forget about it.
Favorite FIUTS anecdote as a facilitator
It’s very hard to choose one favorite event that I facilitated, but I especially enjoy the orientation programs. Among all the awesome orientation events, I enjoyed facilitating the camp the most. When everyone arrived at George Washington Statue to leave for the camp site, everyone was calm and not that talkative. But after we arrived there, we played some physical team games called “Campetition,” so we could bond to one another. On the second day, we created and watched skits of different countries’ cultures, and facilitators made skits to show why FIUTS is awesome. We used the plot of The Wizard of Oz, starring Alissa as Dorothy, finding FIUTS as her place to relieve her nervousness as an international student at UW. Watching other performances was fun, and performing our skit was even more fun! It was very rewarding to see people having fun and making friends at the camp. One of the students actually told me that she was so glad that she decided to come to the camp, even though she was unsure about it in the beginning.
Tips/comments for peer facilitators
Don’t be afraid to try new things as you learn how to become a better leader. FIUTS is a safe place for you to do so for learning, and everyone in FIUTS supports you. Also, make sure you have fun while facilitating.
Check out our past Facilitator Corners:
Herish Patel, Cece Zhang, Nail Hassairi, Sophia Chakalo, Bader Alfarhan, Peirce Kirkham, Alissa Mustre, Ang Li,Wedward Wei, Terry Jung, Hassan Almuzaini, Isabella Ning, Lucy Deng, Nhung Le, Abigail Lim, Ferris Maghi, Kevin Sander, Joey Liao, Anya Raj, Minhtu Nguyen, Jianyang (Jane) Zhang, Jialu Sun, Fleur Xuanlin Li, Saleh Alwabel, Clara Jiayao Lu, Le (Juliet) Huang,David Veth, Yili (Jacky) Chen, Jonathan Cheng,Fah Thamsuwan,Charlie Warner, Katherine Li, Nabil Sutjipto