Program Hosts South Korean Students
The Personal Touch Makes All the Difference
August 2010
The long history of warm relations between this campus and school teachers in Chung'chong buk Province led to an exceptional opportunity for CSU, Chico to host South Korean university students. Ms. Choe Jeong Mi, a teacher in the Chung'chong buk Province was a recent attendee of a Summer Institute for Korean school teachers in Chico. Following her visit to Chico, Ms. Choe shared with her husband the high quality of the Chico Program and the close relationships she developed with the Institute staff and her host family. That conversation proved valuable for Chico.
Since 1988, over 800 teachers from the Chung'chong buk Province of the Republic of Korea have travelled to the CSU, Chico campus to attend Summer Institutes put together by the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Studies. The Summer Institutes, centered on the theme of Friendship, Goodwill, and Mutual Understanding, have proven to be a huge success in fostering cross-cultural understanding.
Ms. Choe's husband, Mr. Cho Do Yeun, serves as Assistant Director of International Programs at Konkuk University and helps to establish study abroad opportunities for his students. Following her positive Summer Institute experience, Ms. Choe urged her husband to place a group of his students in a Winter Exchange program through the CSU, Chico Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Studies.
Mr. Cho took his wife's advice and in January 2010, 35 students from Konkuk University arrived in Chico for a six-week stay. The group had such an outstanding experience that an additional 15 students from Konkuk University came to campus in summer 2010. The students had classroom instruction in the mornings and then participated in specialized programs each afternoon. They lived with local host families, making friends and experiencing U.S. culture. On the weekends they got the opportunity to travel throughout the state, visiting places such as: San Francisco, the Redwoods, Sacramento, Shasta Caverns and Burney Falls.
Over the past 22 years, the visiting teachers have experienced warm hospitality and a friendly atmosphere, and this year, the students couldn't have agreed more. Mr. Cho who has visited countless overseas programs observed, "I have never seen a better program in all of my travels than the program in Chico." As Chuck Zartman, CSU, Chico's director of the program explained, "the personal touch makes all the difference!"