Shining Alumni of Soongsil University
By Lee Soo-hyun
Korea Times Intern
As one of the successful alumni of Soongsil University _ now a predominately Christian school _ Park Ji-yoon, a television anchor for KBS, reflected on her student years.
Park has hosted several television entertainment programs for KBS including ``Star Golden Bell,’’ anchors the 9 p.m. KBS sports weekend news, and was awarded last year as the most distinguished new master of ceremonies.
``My decision to attend Soongsil University, in addition to the goading of my parents, was partially due to the opportunity to attend a school where I could discover the significance of a religious life,’’ she told The Korea Times.
``I believe that Soongsil provided the right amount of spiritual integration to commend my traditional academic experience,’’ she said.
Regarding academic life, Park recalled most fondlyher experiences in her department, English literature, where, with comparably fewer students, there were ``plenty of opportunities to converse with many foreign professors,” she said.
Her spiritual experience at Soongsil provided her with the cohesiveness with her peers that subsequently produced the close relationships she still values today. Even beyond graduation, she doesn’t feel the need to rekindle her relationship with her peers, as the extent of their friendship is timeless in their respective intimacies.
``I am confident that the spirituality of my school has provided me and will provide others with the proper defenses to stave away amoral temptations,’’ she said.
As much as Park appraised the school as a place for cultivating a spiritual individual, she voiced ``It can develop and improve other departments, such as art and cultural studies.’’
``My alma mater has an advantage of being in the heart of Seoul and if it could expand its departments to exploit that advantage, the university can improve holistically,’’ she said. ``I believe there are other obligations for the school such as academic diversity that students need in preparation for the new challenges that await us in the future,’’ she said.
Park harps to her juniors that they should enjoy their youth and university life and asserts that they should ``experience the hardships associated with the coming of age,’’ as well as reaping every benefit of their predicament: the society, institution, location and others, leaving no path for regret.
``One should see the world by traveling, independently examining the world and how one should employ one’s talents,’’ she said.
The star announcer reflected sitting underneath the cherry blossom trees, enjoying the pleasant sounds of the ocarina _ a memory she recalls as vicariously as if it were a thing from yesterday. The other students of Soongsil may someday feel this same nostalgia.