Growing up with a self-described "international multicultural background" College of Human Sciences' recent graduate Cynthia Yoon has excelled despite only seeing her immediate family once a semester.
After spending the first ten years of her life in the Midwest while her parents finished doctoral degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yoon moved to Seoul, South Korea with her family.
In 2004, as a junior in college, Yoon joined an international exchange program, left her family in South Korea and started studying biology at Montana State University.
In Montana, Yoon was introduced to a woman named Diana, who she refers to as her "American mother." Yoon met Diana through an initiative to incorporate students into American culture. Diana had unhealthy eating habits and was afraid to go to the doctor, Yoon said.
"She asked, 'Can you give me some kind of information about what I should eat?'" Yoon recalled.
Motivated to study dietetics by Diana's inquiries and her own parents' "human science oriented" occupations, Yoon decided to study dietetics. Yoon's father is a professor of food science at Kangnung University and her mother is a textile and clothing professor at Yonsei University, both in Seoul. Yoon's aunt, a nutrition professor at Keimyung University in
Daegu, South Korea, also influenced her decision.
Yoon was drawn to Iowa State's dietetics program because of its affiliation with both the College of Human Sciences and the College of Agriculture.
"I knew Iowa State had a very good College of Human Sciences and [College of] Agriculture," Yoon said.
While in South Korea this past summer, Yoon started meeting with a study group of other students planning to take the Graduate Record Examinations to attend graduate schools in the United States. After three months of studying, Yoon took the exam in July and
received a perfect score on the quantitative section of the exam.
Yoon has been accepted into a combined master's degree and dietetic internship program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dieticians must complete a registered internship before taking the national exam. Following her graduation from the master's program with a focus on international nutrition, Yoon will take the exam to become a registered dietician.
While at Iowa State, Yoon has served as a facilitator for the Multicultural Leadership Summit and as a religious education teacher for young children at a Korean church in Ames. She also volunteered at Mary Greeley Medical Center to gain experience applying dietetics in society.
Yoon received her degree this weekend. Her father traveled from South Korea to attend the ceremony.
