Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8052418735

SNUAA 스칼러 20대1 경쟁률 뚫고 5명 선정, 동창회보 2024/09/03

9명 장학위원이 세차례 거르며 최종 5명 선발, 동창회보 2024/09/03

Scholar Profiles

Ceremony-2

Welcome Transcript

안녕하십니까?

우선 SNUAA scholars program에 선발 되신 여러분들께 진심으로 축하의 말씀을 드립니다.

이 program 은 서울대학교 미주 동창회에서 관리 하며 한홍택 박사님께서 주관 하시는 program 입니다. 훌륭한 인재들을 선발하여 매년 장학금을 지급 하고 있습니다.

여러분들은 각자 자신의 분야에서 크나큰 포부를 지니고 열심히 노력하고 공부하고 계십니다. 지금 수여되는 장학금이 여러분의 꿈을 이루는 데 조금이라도 도움이 됐으면 합니다. 여러분들이 가시는 길은 멀고도 험난 할 수도 있습니다. 이번에 드리는 장학금이 여러분들의 성공을 위한motivation이 되기를 진심으로 기대합니다.

모두의 희망찬 미래를 위해 다함께 노력합시다.

감사합니다.

Keynote Transcript

 “Congratulations”!! to all the 2024 Seoul National University Alumni Association (SNUAA) scholarship award recipients! It is my great honor and pleasure to be with such esteemed alumni of Seoul National University, and proud members of our Korean heritage community today.

This is a very moving and proud moment for me for many reasons.

If you ask me now, what my thought on being part of a Korean heritage community is, I can confidently say that I am extremely proud of being part of this community, I hope to be part of the community’s success, and I am dedicated to serving the community for its continued success and growth.

However, if you ask me if I was always this way, I am afraid the answer is no. My relationship with the Korean community has always been a mixed one throughout my life. It was sometimes about whether I was proud to be a Korean or not, and sometimes it was doubts about whether this community was actually good for me or not.

I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea and when I was in kindergarten my family moved to Thailand and then also to Myanmar for a few years. I went to the international school there and I remember being Korean was not that exciting in many ways. Senior students, who I remember as American kids, came to me and made fun of my lunch box. They had sandwiches for lunch while I had rice and many tasty “banchan”, but back then that was considered smelly, funny food, and the older kids came to the corner, some stairway I was eating lunch at by myself, and teased me in a not so friendly manner. I can’t remember what the exact words they used were, but I can almost still remember their facial expressions. It was very hurtful, and I felt ashamed of being a Korean who eats smelly funny food. But, this experience wasn’t all bad, I remember a friend who came to me and showed curiosity about my food and asked me if she could try some. In my moment of despair and hurt, it was a very kind gesture that I felt very grateful for and I still remember her name.

Then, when I moved back to Korea, when I was in 3^rd grade, my classmates in Korea also started making fun of me for not being able to read and write Korean. I also didn’t know “Gugudan”, which most Korean kids have mastered by then. But, by the time I finished elementary school, I was at the top of my class, so they no longer teased me about my academic abilities.

Still, one thing that really kept me down throughout my years in Korea until I finished college, was the fact that the Korean community had lots of expectations that seemed suffocating to me at the time. Lots of set rules that I didn’t agree with, made me frustrated. I remember, when I decided to come to the United States for graduate school, I wrote in my application essay that “I wanted to come to study in the United States because I want to have an equal opportunity to grow into my full potential instead of being asked to conform to society’s standards.”

However, when I came to Stanford for my graduate studies, it was a struggle again. By the American culture’s standard, I was a shy Asian Girl who didn’t know how to express herself and therefore was always underestimated. It was a difficult experience throughout graduate school and to be honest, it is still true to this day.

And I remember that during that time, my “identity” in my own mind was that I was a “Korean” “Yuhaksaeng” who was studying in a foreign country.

But around that time, unfortunate events happened, where my faith in the Korean community was completely shattered. There is a Korean saying, “If your cousin buys land, your stomach hurts.” I think this is the most unfortunate saying in Korean culture, and I am sure this hurts our community deeply to this day. So, there was a time when I decided I didn’t want to be part of the Korean community, and I downplayed my Korean heritage identity.

This was a stance I had for the longest time, until recently when I started having hardships of “unimaginable magnitude”. It is during these hardships that I had a lot of time to think through many elements of life. This is the time when I realized that everything that I had mixed feelings about in terms of my feeling towards the Korean community had a side that I didn’t pay close attention to. The effort to standardize me during school was not really that but rather stemming from the community’s deep interest in me.

Yes, I am sure there was some amount of impact that leads to Koreans becoming more uniform in nature, but it also stems from love and interest in our community members. Also, yes, there is cousin buying land, that bothers some of us, but in fact, we also scream of pride and joy when a Korean community member makes an outstanding achievement.

I had a moment of revelation that it is “love” that really matters and that we are a loving community. Yes, love is not always expressed in a proper manner, but we are fundamentally a community of love.

With that in mind, I started looking closer at our community and it also became abundantly clear that our community members are hardworking, and brilliant people who can make a big difference in the world stage and we are actually experiencing that right now. I was teased for the Kimchi I was eating in my school staircase when I was a kid, but now the very people who were teasing back then are buying Kimchi at Trader Joe’s!

The fact that we have such a loving community with us today and that they are “investing” in the future generation of the community is both moving to see and a wonderful achievement as a community. I once again want to congratulate the SNUAA scholars, in your successful achievement, and I want to encourage you have a chance to reflect on the fact that this is an expression of love for you by the loving community.

There is a saying that love can only be given by a person who can love oneself. We are Koreans, and we must have love for our own identity, to become a loving member of a wider community. You will all face your own challenges in life, but in your difficulties, you will now be able to face them head on knowing that you have a loving community behind you, who cares about you, and will continue to provide love and support.

Congratulations to you all! I hope you will share this love and share my utmost pride for being part of the Korean heritage community.

Thank you very much!

Award Presentation Transcript

Good evening, everyone!

It is a great pleasure to introduce the SNUAA Scholars Program, a visionary initiative designed to empower outstanding college students of Korean ancestry. This program provides invaluable resources, mentorship, and guidance to help these exceptional young leaders maximize their potential and make a lasting impact on their chosen fields and society.

At the heart of this initiative are the SNUAA Scholarships, representing the first step in realizing our ambitious goal. These scholarships are awarded to extraordinary students who have demonstrated academic excellence, creativity, integrity, leadership, and a solid commitment to making a positive difference in their professions and communities. The selection process is holistic and rigorous, considering many qualities to identify those who stand out as future leaders.

This year, we received an overwhelming 101 applications from across the country. However, we found 25 ineligible, leaving us with 76 exceptional candidates. Narrowing this group to five finalists was no easy task, as they all displayed remarkable achievements and potential. However, the final five are indeed the cream of the crop, showcasing exceptional academic performance and leadership.

It is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce to you tonight the five recipients of the SNUAA Undergraduate Scholarships. Each scholarship has been made possible through the generosity of our sponsors or the association, and I would like to express our deepest gratitude for their support.

Now, let’s meet our awardees:

Alan Lee is the recipient of the SNUAA Lee+Ro Water Infrastructure Scholarship, generously sponsored by Mr. Steve Ro.
Mr. Ro, would you please raise your hand and be recognized?
Congratulations, Alan. Please feel free to share a few words with us.

Aranne Jung has been awarded the SNUAA Sang Gang Lee Scholarship, sponsored by Mr. Sang Gang Lee.
Unfortunately, Mr. Lee could not be with us tonight.
Congratulations, Aranne. Please share your thoughts.

Eben Lee is the recipient of the SNUAA Hahn-Paek Scholarship, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hahn.
Congratulations, Eben. The floor is yours.

Jeremy Kim has earned the SNUAA Kwang and Kook-Hwa Koh Science and Engineering Scholarship, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Koh.
Mr. and Mrs. Koh, would you please raise your hands?
Congratulations, Jeremy. Please say a few words.

Yoonseo Lee has been awarded the SNUAA Samick Scholarship, sponsored by Mr. Jong Seop Kim.
Unfortunately, Mr. Kim could not join us tonight.
Congratulations, Yoonseo. Please share your thoughts.

Congratulations once again to all our scholarship recipients! You are now part of the SNUAA Scholars Program, and we are committed to supporting you as you pursue your dreams and make a meaningful impact on the world.

As we celebrate these achievements, I would like to take a moment to thank our sponsors sincerely. Your generous contributions make these scholarships possible and play a crucial role in helping our students achieve their goals.

Before we close, I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the scholarship committee, whose dedication and hard work have been instrumental in making this event successful. We sincerely appreciate your efforts.

Thank you all, and let’s continue to support and encourage these remarkable young leaders as they embark on their journey to greatness.