“When I graduated from Busan Foreign School in 2021, the world still felt like it was putting itself back together after COVID. Honestly, the idea of packing up and flying halfway across the world for college just didn’t sit right with me. So when a friend told me about the University of Utah Asia Campus—a U.S. degree right here in Korea—I thought, ‘Well, why not?’

The very next morning after my high school graduation, I got my acceptance letter. It felt like the universe giving me a high-five.

I’ve always had a thing for storytelling—not the once-upon-a-time kind, but the kind you feel through color, light and silence. That’s why I chose film and media arts. Before college, I spent my summers taking film courses and getting lost in the magic of visual storytelling. There’s something incredible about moving people without even saying a word.

If I had to sum up my college experience in three words, they’d be knowledge, friendship, and confidence. And honestly, I earned all three the old-fashioned way—through late-night projects, trial and error and the occasional caffeine-fueled existential crisis. I built real friendships here, not just with classmates but with professors who actually believed in me before I believed in myself.

Out of everything I’ve done over the past four years, being a design TA and production assistant for the film and media arts program meant the most. Designing event posters, banners, and tickets—and then seeing them splashed all over campus—was a surreal experience. I realized that what I loved doing could actually be a career, not just a hobby I squeezed into weekends.

But if you ask me about the single class that changed my life? Public speaking, hands down. I used to freeze up at the thought of talking in front of a crowd. Now, I host film lectures, pitch creative ideas and make new connections without breaking into a cold sweat. Confidence isn’t something that magically appears—you build it, one terrifying presentation at a time.

As for what’s next—well, that’s the great adventure. I’m staying in Korea for now, brushing up on my language skills, and building my personal blog about post-grad life—all the weird, wonderful, ‘what now?’ moments no one warns you about. I’m also diving into freelance design work, hoping to carve out my own little corner in the creative world.

If there’s one thing I’d tell future U Asia Campus students, it’s this: try everything that scares you just a little bit. You might just stumble into the best version of yourself.”

—Anastasia Kornyukhina, Class of 2025, B.A. in Film and Media Arts, University of Utah Asia Campus, from Busan, South Korea