By Sara Mcguigan T'16
Sara grew up the first half of her life in Oakland, California and the second in Plainsboro, NJ. She graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 2008 and spent six years as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Coast Guard. Sara is now a 2016 MBA Candidate at the Tuck School of Business.
Tuck draws students from all over the world, and boasts a robust 35 percent of international students for each class. For these students, choosing a business school in Hanover, NH was a huge commitment, and probably as distant of a location as they could have chosen. At Tuck, the goal is to integrate the international community in such a manner where each student truly finds a home away from home, and fosters an environment that celebrates these different cultures.
As a student, expanding my network of friends to include those from all over the world will be one of my most cherished take-aways from the business school experience. Each international club is given the opportunity to put on a school-wide event (party) to not only celebrate their culture, but involve the entire community to interact, learn, and be a part of that specific cultural experience. Being half Korean, I am very proud of the influences 
that my ethnicity has had in my upbringing, balancing both traditional Korean customs with American. Intuitively, I joined the Asia Business Club, which is one of the many student-run organizations at Tuck specifically designed to honor diversity.
The Asia Business Club’s big event this year was Korea, Japan, China Night (KJC Night). The invite was extended to not just Tuckies and their families, but the entire Dartmouth community, to celebrate these three cultures with food, music, and performances. There were many wonderful acts, from Karaoke to Chinese fan dancing to a traditional Korean-dress fashion show—but as a participant, I am partial to the show’s finale, the K-Pop dance.
Nothing builds comradery and close friendships like bad dancers trying to learn choreography. Other than the gracious, talented dancers that took the time to teach us, the rest of us had no prior dance experience. But we all shared the same goal and determination to put in the hard work necessary to produce an incredible show and represent Korea to the best of our abilities. For a month we crammed two hour practices into our busy MBA schedules three times per week, often dancing late into the night. But it was amazingly fun and it created a very strong bond in our friendships beyond expectation. The culminating point for me was not only seeing it all come to together—after so much preparation, thought, and practice—but to have drawn in the student body to love the performance as much as we did. The compliments, conversations, and comments that followed from students and faculty, even weeks after, was the goal: to have the Tuck community involved with and excited about Asian culture. Further highlights quoted from the rest of the K-pop team:
“I loved being included even though I am not Korean, it exemplified the inclusive culture of Tuck to me. It also allowed me to practice some of my Korean language skills learned from a childhood of Tae Kwon Do.”
“One big take away or reconfirmation of what I already knew: with passionate and committed team members, you can achieve more than you could imagine. I had refused to dance for my entire life until KJC night, and I survived thanks to the team’s help and support.”
“It was not just Korean, Japanese, and Chinese that were involved in the show. Other nationalities were included as well, such as American, Indonesian, and Singaporean! We felt so welcomed and embraced by the K, J, & Cs—just like a big Tuck family!”
“From the stage, it was incredible to see crowd having so much fun dancing along with us and excited about K-pop. I know that the entire KJC night left a lasting memory on everyone that attended, allowing everyone to interact with some of our countries’ traditions.
After reading this, no need to feel left out, you can experience it here!
Overall, it is not about the K-Pop dance, it is beyond this. Whether it was the audience or performers, it was about broadening horizons and having fun! The inclusion and involvement of everyone, despite nationality, talents, or experiences, is what comprises the very special Tuck experience.
K-Pop members include:
Amanda Grosse T’15
Daniel Lee T’15
Jae Seung Lee T’15
Daniel Kang D’15
Chun Ting, Khaw T’16
Julia Kim TP’16
Kevin Kim T’16
Sara McGuigan T’16
Dismas Widita T’16
Adam Yang T’16
