In 2012, Hai Kim went on his first Mizzou Alternative Break.
After an EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, Kim was sent to the site by MAB (then known as Alternative Spring Break), an organization that sends groups of students around the country during various breaks during the school year to volunteer at places in need.
When Kim found out he was headed to a location only four hours away in the same state, he wasn’t ecstatic, especially when he had friends going to places like Florida. But once Kim got on site, his perspective changed completely.
“I remember seeing Joplin High School in a complete state of rubble,” Kim said. “I, as an outsider, was filled with a sense of dread and hopelessness. Yet everyone I had the fortune to interact with was filled with optimism and vision for the future.”
Kim’s experience in Joplin fueled his passion to continue with organizations like MAB. He saw light through the darkness and believed he had the mindset to help those who couldn’t help themselves.
He has been on other MAB trips to sites such as Atlanta, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida.
“Serving with my group in these various sites of tragedy, I was both humbled and grateful to be invited to serve people in what was likely one of their most vulnerable points of their lives,” Kim said. “I distinctly recall becoming very aware of my own mortality and realizing how fleeting and transient life is. This experience truly cemented not only my passion for service but also my place at Mizzou.”
Now, as a senior, Kim’s involvement in the program has grown. He holds a position on the MAB Board of Directors as the Director of Spring Service.
Senior Katie Yaeger, the MAB Director of Logistics, said that Kim is enthusiastic and passionate about many different things, especially for MAB.
“He always makes sure everyone is excited for the alternative break trips,” said Yaeger, a former Maneater staffer. “He’s very friendly and a really great guy who gets excited about MAB and everything else he does. He always tries to do a little bit more than he has to.”
Graduate student Dawn Schillinger met Kim while on a MAB site retreat in 2013.
“Hai is an absolute bright spot to that memory,” Schillinger said. “It was the first time I got to witness his trademark friendly attitude and positive leadership, a trend I have seen numerous times in our friendship. It sounds cheesy, but Hai is a passionate human dedicated to high ideals.”
MAB was not the only organization Kim became involved with during his freshman year. He also co-founded Mizzou Wishmakers, an organization that works with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri to grant wishes for children who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation provides a variety of resources for Wishmakers to facilitate wish granting. They try to grant wishes of children around the Columbia area or from more rural parts of Missouri.
Kim refers to Mizzou Wishmakers as his “child.” Before Kim created it, there wasn’t anything like the program at MU before.
Over the past years, Mizzou Wishmakers has granted wishes to five children.
Though he holds all the kids they work with close to his heart, Kim’s favorite wish was to a child named Austin who has cerebral palsy. The Wishmakers program sent him to Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Austin’s wish was the first one the program was able to grant, and Kim said he considers Mizzou Wishmakers to be the most rewarding organization in which he participates.
“We work directly with the kids,” Kim said. “We get to pick kids in the Columbia area who are usually forgotten about when it comes to granting wishes. Usually the kids from St. Louis or Kansas City get their wishes granted first. But, by doing this, we get to fundraise ourselves and make the wishes happen. It’s really cool and impactful to see a wish being granted.”
Senior Ashlie Anderson-Rice has been with Kim through his development of Wishmakers and considers seeing him grow through it one of her fondest memories because of his leadership and perseverance.
“This was a time when there were many uncertainties on where the organization was going to go but Hai’s leadership skills helped guide all of the executive board into success,” Anderson-Rice said. “I had the opportunity to serve as the treasurer, while he was president, on the founding executive board. Hai’s high spirit and eye for detail really kept the new organization together.”
Along with MAB and Mizzou Wishmakers, Kim has delved into other various organizations such as Alpha Kappa Psi, Caring for Columbia, the College of Business Ambassadors and the Cornell Leadership Program. He’s also a Sam M. Walton Scholar and made the 2014 Homecoming royalty.
On top of his schoolwork, Kim has a lot to balance. But he stays involved, he said, because it’s something he enjoys and he wants to do his best to give back.
Kim sees a lot of advantages from working with different organizations. He said he considers himself the type of person who likes to be involved and take action. Student organizations have a lot of impact, and he said he appreciates the opportunity to help.
Through his involvement, Schillinger said Kim has grown as a person and impacted not only those he volunteers for with MAB and Wishmakers, but his peers around him as well.
“When Hai is confronted with challenges, he doesn’t let them set him back,” Schillinger said. “Instead, he finds workarounds and overcomes them. Whether it’s leading the largest group of spring service trips in Mizzou history or listening to ‘Problem’ until he knows all the lyrics in the Iggy Azalea rap, Hai just strives to succeed.”
Anderson-Rice also said she sees Kim in a light that shows his passion for change and leadership.
“He is the type of person who would do anything for anyone, wanting nothing in return,” she said. “He is one of the greatest people on Mizzou’s campus. Overall, Hai is an incredible human who will go on to change the world.”
Kim has walked away from his experiences with a lesson that will be difficult to forget.
“Everything comes down to how much you can serve others,” Kim said. “No matter the organization or the task, at the core is the people you interact with, the choices you make, and how those define you as a person.”
