By Miri Cha | Education Team Senior Program Officer
The flowers are starting to bloom!
As the spring came near us, NKHR started 2022’s 1:1 personalized mentoring program on March 26th, 2022. NKHR has been running the program since 2017 to support North Korean students to strengthen their academic skills. Average of 35 students with 40 university students as volunteers joined the program every year.
The recruitment for mentees and mentors were announced early March. As the announcement was uploaded on our instagram @nkhr_edu , I received a call from one of the North Korean students, called Y, who participated in the program for the last three years. Y was accepted to one of the prestigious universities in Seoul and became a freshman this March, hoping to major in mechanical engineering.
Y: Ms. Cha, can a college freshman be a mentor?
Me: Yes, if the applicant seems like the fit for the program after the interview.
Y: Can I apply for the program?
It was quite surprising since there was no sign of him interested in applying for the mentor. However, it turned out that he always had a dream of being a mentor in his mind.
During the interview he said,
There were so many people who helped me to study harder and finally could be accepted at one of the prestigious universities in Seoul. Ever since I came to South Korea, I always questioned myself how I can return to others what I received. I could get an answer to this question as I participated in the program and became good at Math and Science.
Now I have become a university student and this is the time to share my talents with others. I thought I could understand better and help younger students who face hardships which I also did. If there is anyone who needs help in not only Math and Science but also adjusting to a new environment, I would like to share my knowledge and experience. So the student faces less hardships.
Y was selected as the mentor of the program with 37 other mentors. He will teach math to a younger North Korean student.
The generous support of our GlobalGiving donors allows us to reserve a study area for the participating students and to buy academic materials such as workbooks. The students not only strengthen their academic skills but also learn how to share what they have learned.
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