During her childhood in Korea, Jooweon Park loved literature and especially writing. “Perhaps it was an outlet for my girlish emotions,” she says, “but I just had to put my life down on paper.” Her parents, however, discouraged a career as a writer, fearing it would offer little financial security. “So I figured,” Jooweon says, “that I would wait to write a book until after my retirement.”

When Jooweon came to the U.S. in 2005 and enrolled in a community college in California, she focused on everything but writing, including archaeology, anthropology, music, and photography. But none of those subjects felt just right; only writing the research papers for her assorted courses made her truly happy. She called her mother in Korea and explained there was no avoiding the truth. “I have to write,” she said. Resigned, her mother replied, “I always knew it.”

Drawn by the reputation of its English Program, Jooweon applied to the University of Iowa. As an English major, both her appreciation for literature and her abilities as a writer have grown. She was accepted into the Undergraduate Creative Writing Track, through which she has taken courses in nonfiction and poetry. Despite her enthusiasm and ability, however, Jooweon is endearingly self-effacing when discussing her life’s passion. “I still feel the challenge of the language barrier. I’m still learning to express myself in an artistic way in English. The mastery of English possessed by some of my peers just blows me away.” Jooweon occasionally writes in her native Korean, and also translates poetry and prose from Korean to English. “I’d like to find a way to integrate both languages and cultures in my work. But when you choose a language to write in, as I have chosen English, you live in it; it’s hard to go back and forth.”

Now wrapping up her senior year, Jooweon plans to pursue an MFA in nonfiction writing. She hopes to produce work that informs people about the world’s motley offerings—different ideas, cultures, and people. “I want to learn how people live their lives within their own cultures, and write about it,” she explains. Like many who have chosen (or, perhaps more accurately, been chosen by) the writing life, Jooweon has often asked herself, “Why do I want to write?” Her answer is characteristically humble. “It’s not to be famous. I don’t know if I’ll be published. I just want to write something beautiful,” she says, “and helpful to someone who might read it.”