Support for Korean Youth Aging Out of Care

Since 2011, KKOOM has been helping young adults who grew up in Korean orphanages go to college by providing scholarships and mentoring support. This spring, we provided support for four young adults, whom we'll introduce below. The students receive approximately $500 US per semester to help offset their living expenses and buy textbooks, provided that they are making adequate progress toward their degrees. 

In addition to support from KKOOM, Korean orphans can receive college scholarships from a variety of Korean agencies, which is how tuition and living spenses are covered for most. Unfortunately, however, some of the scholarship applications require affidavits from legal parents regarding financial circumstances, which makes it almost impossible for kids who grew up in orphanages to obtain the scholarships, since they often do not have contact with their legal parents. As KKOOM becomes more aware of these kinds of barriers, we work with the students and their orphanage caretakers to try to find other means of support, including increasing our scholarship amounts on a case by case basis.

Here's some more about this semester's KKOOM College Scholarship Recipients.

JD, 4th year at Pusan National University, Major: Business Management. After taking a year off from his studies to focus on improving his English, JD has returned for his last year of bachelor's degree studies. This semester, he is looking forward to taking more classes in his minor, sociology, and also focusing his plans for his job search. In the winter months, JD took a series of English tests and obtained favorable scores, which will be helpful for his job applications. Above all else, JD hopes to improve his grade point average in his final year so that he can have the best credentials possible on his resume.

Eunbi, 2nd year at Gumi College, Major: Childcare. Last semester, Eunbi was appointed the student head of her major, and through that opportunity, she gained a lot of new experiences, including helping put on a large exhibition at the college. At the same time, however, these duties put a lot of stress on her, she told us, so unfortunately, she didn't have much time for herself or for meeting her friends. Over the winter vacation, though, she was able to balance out her workload, and she also spent some time working as an assistant teacher at the college's affilated preschool. In five years, she hopes to be happily married and also enjoying her career as a preschool teacher.

Mingyu, 1st year at Gumi College, Major: Hospitality and Cooking. Mingyu hopes to become a hotel chef, so he decided to go to college to improve his chances of landing his ideal job. In his free time, he likes to exercise, and he hopes to travel more in the future. Mingyu has always enjoyed cooking, so he is looking forward to doing more of that in college, and also looking forward to meeting new friends.

Chambit, 1st year at Gumi Polytechnic College, Major: Applied Computing. Chambit like computer games, soccer, working out and listening to music. He is a rather quiet and reserved young man, but kind to all who get to know him. In his first year in college, he hopes to learn more about the various careers available to him based on his chosen major and better develop his future plans. He plans to study hard to get good grades.

All four of these college students are extremely grateful for your support, as are we. As always, if you have any questions or comments about our work, I invite you to contact me directly.

Best regards,

Aimee