Helping students broaden horizons
.jpg?w=728)
Choi Cheo-lyn, 25, center, editor-in-chief of the Kwangwoon Annals, poses with Kang Youn-su, right, a staff reporter studying chemical engineering, and Yoon Jae-sung, 20, a newcomer majoring in English, in the editorial room on Kwangwoon University’s campus in Seoul last month. / Courtesy of Kwangwoon University
Kwangwoon Annals serves as bridgehead for global issues
By Chung Hyun-chae
The Kwangwoon Annals, Kwangwoon University’s English magazine, has been channeling its energy into dealing with global issues in addition to reporting campus news.
“We are trying to work as a bridgehead for students so they can broaden their horizons by reading our magazine,” said Choi Cheo-lyn, editor-in-chief of the magazine, in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
“We recently covered the Syrian refugee issue and the Paris attacks in November,” said Choi, 25, a senior majoring in English.
Choi also said the magazine publishes reviews of the KBS TV program the World Inside, to inform its readers about the program’s take on world issues.
Drawing students’ interest
In order to get more students to read the Kwangwoon Annals, the reporters take care to make the articles readable by using simple and clear sentences.
All members of the staff take English writing lessons every Tuesday from Lee Chang-won, a professor of English at Kwangwoon University, to polish their writing skills.
“We also publish an English word puzzle on our last page and award the winners with gift cards as prizes in a bid to attract more students to pick up our magazine,” said Kang Youn-su, 20, a staff reporter studying chemical engineering.
The Kwangwoon Annals also publishes one article contributed by a student reader in each edition, which Kang feels is so well-received by readers that the magazine gets four to 10 submissions from students every month.
“We are considering asking the English professors if they would use our magazine as teaching material so that students can enhance their English studies through reading our articles,” said Yoon Jae-sung, 20, a newcomer to the staff majoring in English.
Future of campus English newspapers
Choi is the president of the Union of Korean College English Media (UKCEM), an association of English newspapers and magazines published by 22 local colleges and universities.
Members of UKCEM gather to critique each others’ articles and provide feedback.
“This is useful because we can learn about our shortcomings that we wouldn’t otherwise consider,” Choi said.
UKCEM members plan to cover one news item jointly and publish a long feature article, he added.
“Considering the hard times facing newspapers and other traditional media, I think college English newspapers and magazines should focus on improving the quality of their articles so as not to lose their readers,” Choi said.
“One of the issues I am thinking of is that of the shantytowns and slums of big cities. I believe this issue could allow us to look back at ourselves amid the egotism and greed that is rampant in our society,” he added.
The following is an interview with the student journalists.
(Q): What is the process of producing the Kwangwoon Annals?
(A) Choi: Staff reporters have weekly meetings to share ideas for news items. The reporters write articles for two to three weeks. Then, I send all the articles to an editing company, Edit Korea, to have them copyedited.
We also select appropriate photos and set a general outline of the design and we outsource this to a design company. Finally the reporters and professors who are in charge of publishing the magazine check the final version.
(Q) What are your most memorable articles?
(A) Kang: As a student who dreams of becoming a science journalist, I wrote an article about a hospice, a shelter for dying patients and their families. I was curious about how these people think and live facing imminent death.
I could only interview a nurse by phone. Although I could not write all the stories she related to me, they have lingered in my mind.
Yoon: As I have written only one article so far, I have to talk about my first piece. I had an interest in the Ig Nobel Prizes which celebrate the light and fun side of science. It was meaningful for me to write an article about what had long interested me.