Berklee student gets on Dean’s List for fall semester

A student from Jasper has struck a chord with the Berklee College of Music and landed himself on the Dean’s List. 

Han Wook Kim earned the distinction for the fall semester of his first year of the four-year music performance program. 

To be eligible, full-time students like Kim must have a grade point average of 3.4 or higher. Kim said it’s mostly a matter of doing the work to achieve his “3.8 or 3.9” grade point average. “I work pretty hard and make sure I get all my assignments done,” he said.

Kim, who graduated from Jasper Jr./Sr. High School in 2004, said at Berklee he learns mostly jazz, but he likes to play rock and metal music on the guitar. The curriculum includes writing and composition assignments, and learning and playing solos and songs, he said.

Before heading to Berklee, Kim took a music diploma at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, and when he graduates he’d like to perform professionally. “There’s a good chance I may do a Master’s so I could teach it,” he said. “Ideally I’d like to be in my own band or as a studio musician.”

The 22-year-old said his interest in music was like a revelation. “I started playing guitar when I was about 15,” Kim said. “From that point on I realized it was one thing I wanted to do... it just kind of suddenly happened.”

Kim’s father Sean said he and his wife Soon are really proud of their son. “It’s not really a big surprise, we knew that he was really striving to achieve and that’s what he wanted to do,” he said, adding that Kim is adjusting to his new surroundings as well.

“That part I was surprised, I was thinking, ‘What if he’s really unfamiliar with the surroundings?’ But I noticed he has a few friends in school, so that part really helps us not to worry about him.”

Adjusting to life in Boston, a city with an urban population of more than four million, has been interesting for Kim, who said it’s a big change from living in Canada. “I just find the city itself to be a lot more crowded, busier,” he said. “People are definitely in a bigger hurry.”

As for his grades, Kim said he was happy to hear he was doing so well. “I know I have a lot of work to do to maintain that, but it’s cool to know,” he said.