Senior Garrick Chan sits down and turns on his television on a Sunday evening. He smiles when he sees that one of his favorite programs "The M-Wave" is on. He then relaxes while getting the scoop on the latest Korean pop hit singles. When the program ends, he can only wait for next week's program. Until then, he listens to his favorite Chinese singles, which he enjoys almost as much. Chan is Chinese, but he loves Korean music as well.

Chan is one of many students in the school whose lifestyle has been influenced by culture to the extent that his music and TV choices reflect it. Chan embraces his Chinese culture by listening to Chinese music. Though he is Chinese, he believes "K-Pop," or Korean pop, is the best genre of music.

"Chinese music is part of my culture, but I listen to K-Pop because the lyrics are legit," Chan said.

Within Chinese and Korean music, Chan said he enjoys all genres of music other than jazz and country. Because Chan runs for the school's cross country and track teams, he especially enjoys music that prepares him for meets.

"I listen to all the various genres as long as the songs pump me up for a race, " he said. "I can listen to 'You're the Best' by Joe Esipto, even though I'm not a huge fan of rock music."

For Chan, Korean music just never gets old. Chan was first introduced to Korean music by a friend in his junior year, he said.

"I started listening to K-Pop when my cousin showed me a link of 'Wondergirls' by Nobody," he said. "I got so hooked that I had [the song] as a ringtone for a few months. I actually performed a dance to the song in front of Ms. Fan's Chinese class for extra credit."

Chan didn't hesitate to share the top Korean and Chinese songs from his iPod.

"I like 'No Other' by Super Junior, 'Oh!' by SNSD, 'Come Back Again' by Infinite, and 'Wedding Dress' by Taeyang," he said.

Along with "Wondergirls," this forms his top 5 songs.

With these songs, both Chinese and Korean, Chan runs confidently into the future, knowing the effect of his culture has been immense.