By Catherine Wilde
Staff Writer | June 17 2008

Demarest — Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest’s valedictorian Stephen Kim talks about learning with a passion that shows how he earned his grade point average of 5.14.

Throughout high school Kim has devoted himself to pursuing knowledge in all forms, whether it be through exploring different cultures or challenging himself to take six Advanced Placement courses his senior year.

And this pursuit will be a lifelong one for Kim.

For his college essay, he chose the topic of what it means to be human, concluding that at the end of his life he hopes to have experienced enough to answer that magnanimous question.

That essay helped earn him acceptance to Yale, where he thinks he may major in the humanities or anthropology while continuing his passion for the cello.

Kim has learned to balance his love of music with his academic workload and involvement in the multi-cultural club as well as the National Honor Society. He says his willing participation in all these activities makes the stress more manageable.

"I studied what I was interested in and all the activities [I participated in] I wanted to be involved in. It was my choice to be involved and a choice I didn’t regret," he said.

He also found it helpful to focus on his own capabilities rather than thinking about competing with others.

"By focusing more on what I could do than what other people around me were doing I could focus on making myself more capable in what I wanted to be capable in."

Kim attributes this mindset and the support of parents, friends and teachers to his success.

One teacher, Marisa Januzzi, was particularly supportive. Kim said she changed the way he thought about the subject of English.

"I never used to like English until my junior year. She taught in a way that wasn’t so demanding but at the same time opened my eyes to a lot of things," said Kim.

"And I can talk to her and feel like someone’s really listening."

Kim’s advice to others who want to pursue academic excellence is to "learn for the sake of learning rather than the sake of knowing."

"If you are really enjoying education and involved with learning new things you’re not just keeping it in your head. Rather than being able to rattle off information it’s about being able to expand your perspective," said Kim.

"Exposing yourself to different areas and becoming a more well-rounded person with a desire to be able to learn more about the world around you," is Kim’s ideal for the learning experience.