Chloe Son is a ’21 who was born near the Bay Area in California. She was raised by her mother and father, who grew up in South Korea, and also lived with her older brother by three years. Throughout her childhood, Chloe has naturally felt closer to her mom than her dad because of an Asian tradition, although not uncommon in other ethnic groups, for the father to take on a larger role working and earning money for the family while the mother spends more time taking care of the kids. As a kid, Chloe tended to be friends with the white girls in her area, even though most of the kids in her area were Asian, but around eight-years-old, Chloe and her family had to move to South Korea for work-related reasons. She did not like this change. She spent the next ten years of her life in an international school near Seoul, where the demographics were upwards of 80% Asian and a significant number of other minorities. Having grown up in America and then moving to spend the next ten years in South Korea, Chloe identifies as a Korean-American, and within that, identifying more as an American. Despite having lived in South Korea for quite a long time, she says it’s still easy to distinguish the Koreans at her international school from the Korean-Americans because the Koreans tend to be trendier, following things like plastic surgery or certain hairstyles.

In her home in Seoul, she also had a pet shih tzu, which is a dog, and apparently, hers is much cuter than the typical ones you see in pictures. She describes shih tzus generally as affectionate but quite stupid, as in if a robber came to her house, her shih tzu would treat the robber as a friend. However, her shih tzu did somehow managed to pull off a back flip once, leading Chloe to call her dog “a dog of surprises.” Her shih tzu’s name is Portgas D. Ace, which is based on a character in the anime One Piece who unfortunately died but was “resurrected” through Chloe’s dog. Watching anime is an important form of entertainment for Chloe, her favorites coming out of Studio Ghibli, as well as Korean Netflix and shows like House M.D., and Rick and Morty. Chloe’s absolute favorite TV show is still Avatar: The Last Airbender from the Nickelodeon series. Throughout her time in South Korea, she spent a lot of time making music. She is very talented at singing and playing guitar and has been in many musicals and has been trained by professional singers in many genres of music. Notably, she once auditioned for a top K-pop group and made it past the initial rounds.

In addition to WGSS 10, Chloe is also taking CS 1 and Film 1. For quite a while, she has been really interested in game design and has worked alongside her older brother in the hopes of one day starting a company with him making video games. She described herself in the past as that “useless idea person,” but she will soon be able to contribute more than just ideas after taking more classes here. A big reason she came to Dartmouth was because of its strong women in computer science program, which will give her many opportunities in a male-dominated field. Chloe also really enjoys watching and analyzing film and finds a lot of inspiration in Christopher Nolan’s movies. Her favorite movie is the Dark Knight, but she loves the whole trilogy. Generally, she is open to watching any movie genre, including horror.

During her time here, she really wants to take advantage of all the hiking/climbing/canoeing opportunities on campus that she didn’t have access to in Seoul. Chloe is also interested in learning taekwondo and continuing to sing on the worship team of a fellowship here called Logos. She is also a part of Agape, the Asian-American Christian fellowship on campus.