April 29, 2014 By Natasha Zeng Junior Aron Tan, the MK, does not have an official home until he got married in May 2013.
Tan was born in India, and at the age of eight, he moved with his families to Malaysia where he spent a nine-year of his teenager life there. As a son of missionary, that means another three years in Indonesia, a year in Netherlands, and then, Huntington. “My parents were missionaries,” said Tan. “They worked and set up NGO organizations (Nongovernmental organization) that serve people with drug addiction background, HIV/AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) awareness, and they also set up micro-enterprises to help people who have HIV/AIDS to have an income and to be able to sustain their families and that sort of stuffs.” Legally speaking, Tan has dual citizenships from both Dutch and Malaysia. But in spirit, he doesn’t know which place he should be considered as home. “I have no idea,” Tan confessed. “Quite honestly, I feel more at home in an airport than I do in anywhere else.” When Tan was in high school in Indonesia, his basketball coach happened to be from Indiana. During the process of applying colleges, Huntington university came onto Tan’s search bar. “I started to look at Christian colleges out in the west coast like California, ” Tan explained. “And then I knew some people who were going to school in Indiana. So I looked at Christian universities in Indiana too.” Coming to HU, Tan said he did experience some cultural shock. In the past, he never really have culture shock because of his awareness on differences and similarities from one country to another. “The first official place I came into the United States is Los Angles,” said Tan. “I barely have any cultural shock in Los Angles just because it was so diverse. I have more cultural shock coming from Los Angles to Huntington than I did from Asia to Los Angles.” After spending one year as an International representative on Student Senate, Tan decided to challenge himself and run for the student body president for 2014-2015. During the campaign, he mentioned his identity as an international student and he promised to bring an international perspective to the campus. “Growing up, my parents always challenged us to do if we see something we want to change in the world, we have the full capability to do that,” Tan explained. “And looking at Senate, I saw the possibility for a lot of change and a lot of good that can come out from Senate. I believe I can make a difference.” “As an international student, I understand the difficulties and stress it is coming to the United States and experiencing a complete different culture, a complete different style of education, a complete different way of how things are handled,” Tan added. “And I want to try to better serve the international community.” According to Tan, what happened commonly with international students is that they are not brought up to anyone. In some ways, they are suffered on their own. “With Huntington looking to expand its International students, they need to do a better job and create a foundation for those students who come to,” Tan summarized. “I hope my position can serve better to the current international students and the incoming international students.” On March 7, out of the record-breaking 326 votes that were cast, Tan received 45 percent of the votes and he was elected as the new student body president. “You know, my Indiana roots, my Malaysian roots, my Indonesian background, my interaction with Islam, and Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism and all of the different aspects have impacted me the way how I see the world, the way how I communicated and related to people,” said Tan. “I was always encouraged to chase the things I enjoyed and make the decision not based on what kind of jobs I will get, but what kind of experience I will take away,” Tan laughed.
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