Mike Han- “It’s Okay to Pause”

Mike Han was the creative director of HKSN. In this interview, he answers in detail of how he thinks one should approach one’s undergraduate education and achieve one’s goal.

Tell us about what you studied at McGill.

I studied Kinesiology (Bachelor of Science), specializing in Motor Control/Neuroscience of Movement which culminated with a senior-year independent research project. I also took a lot of courses in linguistics for interests sake.

What are pros and cons about your program?

Pros

The Kinesiology program (under the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education) is quite small, especially compared to other health-sci or life-science programs at McGill. So I definitely enjoyed the perks that come with a small department:

smaller class sizes, a tight-knit community of students, better quality of student-to-faculty relationships, our very own academic advisor.

As for the academic aspects, I really appreciated the program’s comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to health. We were presented with health topics from molecular and cellular levels all the way to systemic and population levels.

Health was explored from multiple dimensions — the mental, emotional, and social elements of health in addition to the physical.

In addition, there were several practical opportunities throughout, like the cadaver labs for anatomy courses. I wonder if I would have attained as multisegmental of an education of health through other programs at McGill.

Cons

As for the negatives, I would say the biggest is an issue that is common among students in health studies or life-sciences:

the path to materializing one’s education in kinesiology, professionally, is quite unclear and for the most part, a bit chaotic.

Many of my colleagues (myself included) studied kinesiology with the intention of pursuing further education/training in specialized healthcare disciplines (common examples are physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine, and athletic therapy). Some of them wanted to pursue athletic training or conditioning. And like many undergrads, many did not have a clear idea of what they wanted to pursue after their studies. But for the most part, more education or training were needed for whatever most of my colleagues wanted to pursue. Also, even though kinesiologists are starting to become implemented in the healthcare system, in their own right as specialists of human movement, the path to becoming a certified kinesiologist is not such a smooth one (licensing exam(s) are required and further studies may be needed down the road).

Again, like many graduates of health sciences and life sciences, I think people find it difficult to translate their academic background into employable and applicable skills.

What were some valuable involvements at school that taught about yourself and oriented your goals?

During my time at McGill,

I served as HKSN’s Creative Director,

overseeing and producing HKSN’s visual media and marketing campaigns. I was also involved in the

Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education’s student association (Student Association of Physical Education and Kinesiology, SAPEK) as its VP Communications

— facilitating communication and (again) producing visual media for its operations. Through my involvement in SAPEK, in collaboration with the Neuroscience Undergraduates of McGill (NUMS),

I co-founded the Concussion Awareness Symposium

that aimed to provide students and faculty with the health and social impacts of concussions, especially in the context of sports. In all three of the above involvements, I was able to practice, challenge, and hone my skills and further my interests in design and visual communication; I came to realize how much I loved being a creator!

Design and visual communication are now an essential part of my life.

Another experience that was valuable for me was research. In my senior year, I took on an

independent research project in the area of neurological effects of habitual exercise in elderly populations.

Through the opportunity, I acquired practical knowledge in neuroimaging acquisition and analysis. I also came to realize that the academic research environment was, perhaps, not a good match for me. While I really enjoyed the content and area of study I was involved in, the day-to-day lifestyle and activities as a researcher were not something I could see myself maintaining in a long-term. I imagine that I would not have been able to gain that insight during my undergrad had I not sought out for research opportunities.

In between the various visual media production roles and my experience in research,

I began to wonder if I could orient my future goals towards a direction that would allow me to access both “worlds” of visual communication and health sciences

— and if so, how? Which brings me to where I am currently. I’m looking at media production for the purposes of healthcare industries or advertising/creative positions that support and enrich the medicare industry.

Most regretful thing you’ve done at McGill?

Though I don’t have any regrets about my time at McGill (how would one gain insights without any faults or failures?!), if I were to change one thing,

it would be the manner in which I approached my future goals.

All throughout my undergrad, until the last semester of my fourth year,

I was too blind-sided and focused on trying to achieve my dream of becoming a doctor.

The most important matter to me was how I could achieve that goal: by developing myself and shaping my experiences that would make me a competitive medical school applicant. Becoming a physician was a dream I had since the seventh grade, so eventually, pursuing medicine became a part of my identity.

All in all, I got too comfortable with my decision to pursue medicine.

So much so that I was oblivious to how energized and inspired I was working on tasks unrelated to medicine. I was too focused on the race to med school that I didn’t stop to ask myself some important questions: “Would I enjoy the day-to-day lifestyle of a physician?” or “Am I ready to sacrifice the various aspects of my life so that I may achieve my dream of being a doctor?”

I then came to realize that I could not longer justify my dream of being a doctor. I think I was too confident, too fast, in my decision of pursuing medicine.

However, I think if I didn’t have these realizations in my final year and continued to pursue medicine, I would have ultimately realized this somewhere down the road. So no regrets, but I think realizing this earlier would have pained less. It would have also made things a lot more easier on the present self haha…

What advice would you give to current undergraduate students at McGill?

Experiment.

Your time as an undergrad is the prime time to experiment and challenge yourself

— from your notion of self, to what makes you excited, engaged, and inspired. University is also the prime environment for trying out new endeavours; the vast amount of resources, whether human or informational, and opportunities are so rich that there has to be something out there for everyone.

BUT, you have to seek it. Whether you get involved with a startup, become involved in a major event/production, or acquire research experience, experiment with some project OUTSIDE of your studies.

Take advantage of your summers, maybe seek out internships (even if they have nothing to do with your field of study). The worst that can come out of experimenting with such opportunities is finding out that something isn’t engaging for you — which is an invaluable insight.

Another piece of advice to current undergraduate students, which I wish someone told me earlier, is that

it’s okay to press pause.

I think so often, students feel an overwhelming pressure to be constantly productive and engaged: If you’re not attending to your studies, you should be investing in your future. If you’re not developing yourself professionally, you should be studying. Further, there’s an incredible amount of pressure to have an answer to the ever-daunting question of “what next?” Grad school? Professional school? What are your job prospects after graduation? Where are you going? What are you going to doing? It’s okay to not be productive and engaged.

It’s okay to not have an answer to “what next”.

I think it’s easy for students to get into a rhythm of being constantly engaged to the point that they barely have the time to process their own emotions and experiences. There’s a certain power in pausing that affords one the ability to recalibrate — to sort out their thoughts and emotions. How can you grow as person if you don’t know how you feel about your own experiences?

So press pause from time to time. And know it’s okay to pause; absence of activity does not equate to an absence of self-worth.

After graduation, Mike has been working to step into the creative media industry while doing freelance work on the side. You can check out his portfolio at michael-han.com