Winners of 5th Korea Multicultural Youth Awards - 2
Outstanding high school student
Kim Ga-young
Kim shines amid hardships
Kim Ga-young, 17, first grader of Goheung Youngju High School in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, is thoughtful about her career.
She is living with her Korean father and Japanese mother in a small farming village. There are only 32 students at her school. Despite the family’s poor financial circumstances and lack of private education, she is doing her best not to give up studying.
Her teacher Gu Ja-min complimented Kim’s well-rounded personality. “As vice leader of our class, she actively participates in volunteer activities and athletics competitions,” Gu said. Last semester, she received a prize for volunteer activities.
Kim is good at various subjects including Korean literature, geography, Korean history, and science. She obtains good scores for almost all subjects, winning prizes from the school.
She is now majoring in auto engineering.
Kim Min-ryeong
Righteous Kim dreams of being a journalist
Kim Min-ryeong, 18, from Michuhol Foreign Language High School in Incheon, has a strong sense of justice.
She is a big fan of investigative television programs exposing corruption in Korean society. Her hobby is monitoring media, as a member of the journalism club at her school. They review and discuss the themes of dramas and current affairs programs.
Her power of logic will support her future plans. She has already won many writing and debating competitions at school. Also, she is a popular host for school events because of her excellent speaking ability.
“Based on her interests in reading and the family backgrounds of her Korean father and Chinese mother, her writing is outstanding, not only in Korean, but also in Chinese and English,” her teacher Oh Baek-geun said.
Oh said Kim is very modest despite her ability. She is a Korean language mentor for two students. Thanks to her regular help, their scores have improved a lot.
Outstanding volunteer group
Masongjungang Elementary School Student Council
Group explores cultural diversity
About 20 percent of the students at Masongjungang Elementary School in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, are from interracial families. It’s a great asset for the Masongjungang Student Council to experience various cultures in their daily lives.
Once a month, they organize the school’s morning meeting in foreign languages, rotating Mongolian, Vietnamese, Uzbekistani, Chinese and Japanese. “By interpreting the meeting scripts, students can have pride in their mother and father’s nations,” principal of the school Kwon Hwa-ja said.
Some multicultural students come to Korea in the middle of their school days. The council sets up programs to facilitate their adaptation, such as making their local foods together and taking pictures in their traditional costumes.
Because of the high percentage of multicultural residents in the town, UNESCO designated the school as a cooperation partner in 2012. Thanks to the U.N. agency’s support, students have enjoyed the opportunity to visit Mongolia and invited teachers from Vietnam.