Playing a Division I sport is no small feat.
The time commitment is intense, with student athletes practicing for hours on-end every day, every week. But for senior golfer Julie Shin, her hours on the course are just one part of a very busy schedule. As a member of two campus dance teams, Penn K-Beats and Hype Dance Crew, she juggles practice and competition with rehearsal and performance. For Shin, however, that’s how she likes it. She is able to balance her commitments through sheer determination and genuine love for all of her activities, athletic and otherwise.
“I’m the type of person that’s like, if I really want to do it, I’ll make it happen,” Shin said. “Even though it might not be the smartest decision in terms of my own time [and] even though I’m super busy, I love being a busybody. I love dancing in my free time.”
Being involved in dance and golf is nothing new for Shin. She was the captain of her high school golf team and K-pop dance club, and while she took a break from dance her freshman year of college, she joined K-Beats at the end of her sophomore year and hasn’t looked back since. This year, Shin serves as internal vice president of K-Beats. Shin is also a former competitive figure skater, practicing on both the field and the rink before eventually settling on golf.
Despite her many activities, Shin makes sure to devote her full focus to the task at hand each time she hits the course or the stage.
“I feel like if you made a commitment to something, you should put 100% effort into it,” Shin said.
This effort is evident in her results for golf. Shin has been in the lineup for every tournament since she arrived at Penn, notching a team-low 74.7 stroke average in 23 tournament rounds in the 2024-25 season. She was also a member of the 2023 team who won the league championship for the first time since 2010. Last year, her fifth place finish at the Ivy Championships earned her Second Team All-Ivy honors, and she broke the previous low 54-hole score for a Penn golfer at the event by seven shots.
“I credit my achievements to my drive and my determination,” Shin said, “I’m super busy on the course and off the course … but whenever I am on the course, I’m always locked in. I want to do my best. I set personal goals for myself, like whether I want to hit a certain scoring average, [or] how I want to place on the team.”
While her personal accomplishments are due to her passion and determination, Shin’s love for the sport is largely due to her teammates. Despite the often individualistic nature of golf — the old adage that a golfer doesn’t compete against others, they compete against the course. For Shin, a co-captain of the team this season, her teammates and coaches are another family off the stage.
“I’ve been blessed to have such a great team,” Shin said. “It’s honestly very much my second family. I know everyone cares about me and I care about everyone else, and they definitely would have my back if I ever needed them. Having that special group of people to latch on to is definitely one of the reasons why I just love being at Penn and why the game is just still so fun.”
The same dedication, focus, and camaraderie that drives Shin in golf also pushes her to be excellent in dance, school, and her life as a whole. Having multiple commitments doesn’t mean Shin is less devoted to her sport, instead, dance has only enriched her experience. Her message to student athletes considering other commitments?
“I would definitely, definitely recommend.”
