What is the most common misconception people have about you?

“People think I’m Korean, but my last name was actually a mistranslation when my great-great grandfather came to the U.S. It was Wen … I don’t always win.”

What are you most passionate about on campus?

“OASIS: Organizational Asian Sisters In Solidarity started last semester. But it was challenging because there were some bureaucratic issues forming it.”

What motivated you to keep pushing for this club?

“A lot of Asians don’t realize that they are part of the conversation about race. How do you get that community to support other people of color if they don’t know about it in the first place? These kind of conversations need intergroup dialogues to show that there’s a need for this group on campus, and it’s a need that can’t be fulfilled unless we establish a group for Asians.” 

Where do you see OASIS in the future?

“We are thinking of changing it to Organizational Asian Students In Solidarity, not Sisters. Currently, there’s no real pan-asian club that connects them together. I want something to formulate these Asian groups together.”

Any last words you want to say?

“I think there’s a barrier to conversations at Colgate because we’re always nit-picking certain terms people use. People focus on listening to the words that they’re saying, but we have trouble listening to the meaning of what they’re actually saying. Words and meanings are essentially the same thing, but sometimes you have to look past the words and see what that person is actually trying to communicate to you.”