An American in EAST

“The shocking hot weather”, and “pedestrians waiting for traffic lights to turn green even when there are no cars coming.” These are some of the “cultural shocks” Jessica Yi (USA), then 23, first experienced in Singapore. And her favourite thing to eat? “Bubble tea,” she replies, “Sure we have it back home but the bubble tea here is a whole new level!”

Jessica came to Singapore to intern with the ACTS Ministry International (AMI) “Since I would be here for a year, I decided to study at EAST, which I found on the internet, to equip myself,” she says.

That May in 2015, the psychology major would return to Wisconsin to begin her medical studies. So what can a school in Asia teach an American like her?

“Many things,” replies the soft-spoken Korean American, whose father, a chemistry professor, and mother, a pharmacist, moved to the USA from Korea when they were teenagers. “I learned important lessons on self-leadership from Dr Roland’s Spiritual Leadership classes , and how to seek God in solitude during times of loneliness.”

“And the many cultures here at EAST, and what I’ve been exposed to through ministry have opened my eyes to see things I might never see back home.”

Jessica remembers fondly a mission trip to Batu Pahat during the semester. “I met someone who shared about how he came to Christ and the persecutions he went through” she says . “In the US, it’s a world away from the rest of the world.”

“Now, my world has gotten bigger.”

Jessica Yi graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Christian Ministry in 2015. She did it within her gap year before she started her medical school in the US. She has since graduated from medical school in 2019 and is now starting her second year of residency specializing in neurology. She is currently living in Philadelphia and she is part of a new church plant called Canvas City Church, which is part of ACTS Ministry International (AMI), the organisation she was an intern with while at EAST.

Read more alumni stories at www.east.edu.sg/tag/alumni/
#EASTlifestyle #EASTalumni #leadership #loneliness #solitude #ministry