Hello! I'm Sunmi! I graduated in 2008 from Williams College, where I majored in math and chemistry (best majors ever!), and am now working in a medical research lab in Boston while studying for my EMT certification exam and applying to medical schools.
I learned how to bike in 5th grade, and never had an opportunity to get on a bike again until the summer after 12th grade; I discovered then that one does not, in fact, forget how to ride a bike. Since graduating from college, I have had time to push my limits further, and started participating in races for the first time! My most recent challenges were a sprint triathlon and a half-marathon, and now I am looking forward to my next adventure. While training for the triathlon, I found that I really love biking, and Bike & Build sounded like an amazing opportunity to combine my passion for community service, biking (and other physical challenges), and travel, all in one.
I love to help and work with people: I worked as campus tech support in college, as well as a math/science tutor and TA throughout high school and college. Last spring I volunteered at a local middle school, teaching an after-school class about building computers. At the end of the semester my students put together a working desktop computer, which was then donated to the school for everyone to use. This fall, I ran the B.A.A. Half Marathon on the Dana-Farber team, raising money to help advance cancer research.
I think what excites me the most about B&B is that participants not only bike through some beautiful parts of the country, but actually help out at build sites as well! Building/creating with my hands is another of my many passions, something I became aware of during woodshop classes and while helping my mother fix up our house – painting the walls, and installing and finishing hardwood floors. Nowadays this side of me finds outlet mostly in craft projects and suturing skin grafts on lab mice (my lab researches transplant rejection), but I dream of having a woodworking shop in my own house one day. :)
Anyone who knows me will tell you at length about my love of adventures; about how I couldn’t stop smiling while sailing on a wooden ship in the Caribbean in the middle of a gale, though I was extremely seasick the whole trip; about how I threw myself wholeheartedly into the college outing club and even led some trips despite never having gone backpacking before my freshman year orientation trip; about how I am constantly searching for the next adventure. I am extremely excited about this chance to make a difference in the community while challenging myself.
