Winners of 8th Korea Multicultural Youth Awards - Outstanding high school students
Warm-hearted Kim helps class, community
Kim Hwa-mi
By Kim Jae-heun
Kim Hwa-mi, 18, a senior at Incheon Yeil High School in Incheon, is a caring person who spends much of her time helping out with community services. The oldest among seven siblings, Kim grew up taking care of her brothers and sisters.
Kim wants to be a kindergarten teacher and has volunteered at an elementary school in her neighborhood, teaching students there and making teaching materials.
Thanks to her Japanese mother, Kim naturally learned to speak the foreign language and she participated in a bilingual competition in Incheon recently, coming in second place.
Kim is full of community spirit and she does not hesitate to work hard in the classroom.
Kim is a role model for children with multicultural backgrounds
Kim Ya-na
Kim Ya-na, 18, a sophomore student at Kwangil High School in Gwangju, lives with her mother, separated from her sister and father in Ukraine.
When she came to Korea with her mother five years ago, she barely spoke any Korean. While many children in a similar situation would give up learning the language, Kim decided to attend a regular high school with Korean students to improve her Korean skills.
This is all due to her ultimate goal to become a simultaneous interpreter of Korean and Russian.
Kim does not only concentrate on herself but helps other children from multicultural families at school and even adult neighbors from Russia, already living her dream performing as an interpreter.