Consideration for others, key strength for Ban
Ban Jun-hwi, 11, makes a funny face during a photo shoot after class at Youngil Elementary School in Guro, southwestern Seoul, Tuesday. Ban is the top prize winner of the fifth Korea Multicultural Youth Awards.
Grand prize winner versatile in language, music, go
By Kim Bo-eun
Ban plays the violin during orchestra practice at the Guro Culture Center in Seoul. / Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul
Eleven-year-old Ban Jun-hwi is observant, inquisitive and smart; but what makes the top prize winner of the fifth Korea Multicultural Youth Awards shine above all is his character.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ban was early for his orchestra class at a local culture center in Guro, southwestern Seoul.
Some students were there, practicing or talking to each other. But there were not enough chairs for all of the orchestra members.
Soon, Ban came with a stack of chairs, struggling to get the heavy load into the entrance.
“I jokingly refer to him as ‘aeneulgeuni’ (a precocious child), because he is such a mature and responsible child,” Lee Sang-hyo, his violin teacher at Guro Culture Center, said.
After the orchestra practice was over, students of each section gathered to practice separately. Ban is part of the violin section.
Ban has been learning violin for six years, but modestly says he is not much good but likes playing with the orchestra because various instruments can complement each other harmoniously.
Classmates also recognize his consideration for others, and he was elected class president from his second to fourth years.
Background
Ban is a child of an interracial family, of which the number is growing but still remains a minority. In the highly homogeneous country of Korea, interracial children are sometimes bullied for their skin color or facial features, and can have difficult school lives at school.
In the case of Ban, born to a Korean father and Chinese mother, nothing visibly tells of his racial background. Ban says his classmates, who find out about his mother, want to know why she is Chinese and where he was born.
“I simply tell them I was born at the Korea University Guro Hospital,” Ban said with a smile. “Then they stop asking.”
Ban has lived in Guro all his life. His mother tongue is Korean, but at times he speaks with his mother in Chinese, which he continues to learn. When Ban was a second grader, he received the grand prize in a foreign language contest hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
High achiever
Ban has a talent for math and science. He attends a math academy for the gifted affiliated with the Nambu District Office of Education in Seoul. Ban is also a member of a Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) science program for multicultural children.
Ban says his grandfather taught him math since he was six years old.
“I want to become a mathematician, who can refute existing math theories and formulas,” Ban said, ambitiously.
In addition, Ban is a go player. In 2012 and 2014, he won nationwide go tournaments for interracial children organized by the Korea Baduk Association, as an individual player and on a team, respectively.
In his free time, Ban is immersed in books. After school, he often goes to the library in his neighborhood and spends hours there.
Although Ban is studious and mature, he is only 11 and is just like the rest of his classmates ― he wants more time to play. “I like to play games and hang out with my friends,” he said, beaming.