The initial thought that I had as soon as I arrived in Beijing was that I wanted to go back home. There were so many people from all over the world and they looked so professional that I felt that I did not belong there. This negative feeling continued until the delegate training session. I had no idea about the procedure, strange jargons, and things that I was supposed to do. From all those feelings, I noticed that this would certainly an experience that I could push myself out from the comfort zone. Surely, it was a great experience for me to challenge myself and learn that there is broader world outside.
 
             Since this was my first time ever participating in Model UN, I was very unprepared for this HMUN. I read and read all guidelines and instructions, but I still couldn’t get the specific idea of the conferences. I felt lost sitting in the middle of all the other delegates being ready to present their ideas. However, as I know this kind of opportunity does not come easily, I didn’t want to make this opportunity go to waste. At least I had to learn something. In order to “do something” from this conference, I listened, observed, and tried even though it seemed experimental; I listened to others to catch the specific topic that they were talking about; I observed others and learned how I should express my ideas; I tried to make few speeches to present some of my own ideas, approached to other delegates who had similar perspectives, and talked with delegates who had different belief. The more I listened, I was able to get clearer idea of the topic. The more I observed, I was able to understand how this conference works. The more I tried and as more I pushed myself out from my comfort zone, I was able to learn.
 
             HMUN was a very diverse environment where different people from different backgrounds came together to talk about one common topic. Each and every one of them had different opinion and perspectives, but I noticed that people were communicating to merge their ideas to come up with one agreeable idea. I was amazed about how all those different people are getting together and creating one resolution as a whole. From this, I was able to imagine how would my college life would be in America. There will be people who look different, think different, and live different from me. Before, I was quite scared to imagine myself living in places where there are no people like me. Despite of this anxiety, I learned that it is possible to become friends with all those different people. Sitting and listening in the middle of different delegates, I learned that I was not the only “special” one, but it didn’t mean that I was worthless. I was one of them, and a part of the whole. Each person is different from one another and special in his or her own way. I believe that realizing this fact is the first step of harmonizing with others.
 
             I made several friends from different places. They opened my sight to the wider world and helped me to expose myself to new ideas that I never thought about before. Through them, I was able to be involved in the conferences, and be immersed into the topic of transitional justice and human rights. I really want to say thank you to all of those who gladly opened their email account to communicate with me while everyone else is using WeChat. I appreciate their encouragement and their passion, which also stimulated me to work harder in the conference.
 
             Lastly, I have to admit that I was not perfectly prepared for this HMUN. However, I believe it was worth experiencing. It was certainly a great experience that I could have as a high school student. Though I was scared to step out from my comfort zone, I was so glad that I was brave enough to do so. Seeing the bigger world that is surrounding me was definitely an unforgettable experience. Within few more years, I will have to walk towards a community bigger than Wanbang. As the time approaches to me, apprehensiveness in my heart also grows. In front of the huge world waiting for me, I feel very small and weak. However, when that time comes, I would like to remember those lessons that I learned from HMUN. Yes, as this is my first time living in this world, I will be unprepared to live a perfect life anyway. However, as I listen, observe, and try, I’ll get to learn more about this world and more about life. I’ll be able to learn that there is a bigger world outside of the world I see, and that this world is special because there are each and every individual who is different from each other. Someday, when I grow up, when I meet with people different from me, I want to be prepared to work with them and dream together about the same goal – to make this world a better place for everyone.

MicroBiz Reflection

Background

           From February 20th to 25th, ‘International Future Business Leader Summit’ called MicroBiz went on. Personally, I thought this competition was a valuable experience to me. To give out some brief background about this competition, the competition is comprised of five fiscal years, in which each company can develop their own products, produce them, and carry out transactions between other companies. There are three types of companies that every team can decide what they want to manage. One is a manufacturing company, which mainly produces profit through OEM process. The second type is a technology innovation company, which concentrates on researching and developing for leading products and cutting-edge technologies. Last type is a state-owned company, advantageous to import and store products. After many meetings and discussion, our team chose the state-owned company and set strategies that could lead us to the most beneficial way.

Preparation

           After school competition that was hold in last summer, we started to form a team for the national competition. Seniors had participated in the same competition, so during the preparation, we could learn some useful information and prepare to some extent. However, it was not always an easy and simple process. We had to develop some products that satisfy great innovativeness, attraction, and practicality. Though we had meetings every day during Winter Intensive Course (WIC), we could not think of excellent ideas that we could depend on. Also, we weren’t able to decide what type of company we should manage, so it was na pretty tough period to endure. We continued our communication even during the vacation in Korea, and were able to end up with some decent ideas.

Competition

           After 2 hours flight, we arrived in Shanghai. We set off for designated hotel directly. On the first day, there was an opening ceremony. I delivered keynote speech as a student representative. It was such an honorable experience to me. As a foreigner, standing in front of over 500 Chinese and even people having other nationalities, I gave out my speech boldly with confidence. I thanked my God for allowing me to stand in front of so many people and share true values.

           Severe schedule was lying in front of every participants. After one trial operation, five fiscal years progressed directly. It was an exhausting week in which I poured out my entire energy to the competition. Besides the formal competition, our team had to discuss until far into the night and constantly think over and revise strategies. Although every fiscal year abounded with unpredictable crisis, our team walked out difficulties together.

Reflection

           I would like to organize what I have leant from the competition into three big topics.

           The first point I want to get across is accomplishment of the word from the bible. When starting the preparation, our team selected a bible verse as our focus. At first, I doubted the relationship between the verse and the commercial, but soon, I experienced an amazing ability of the word. We held on the word of Philippians chapter 4 that says ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ and ‘I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.’ There were a lot of difficulties during the competition. It was hard for foreigners to comprehend rules without missing, price level called C price skyrocketed so that we could not expect anything, and furthermore, we had a clash of opinion about our product amongst our team members. In such circumstances that we could not walk out with our wisdom and ability, we prayed. God really guarded our hearts and minds, and we could walk with peace in such crisis.

           The second point is the relationship between Chinese friends. To be frank, I had some skeptical thoughts such as, ‘could we have a good relationship with Chinese friends?’. On top of that, I thought that to be a mainstream as a foreigner would be a more challenging task than the natives. But thankfully, our team was full of blessings for the relationship with the Chinese students. They did not have any bias or hostility toward Koreans but rather had longing and pleasing impression on Korean culture. It was hard to meet Chinese students who treated us badly or absentmindedly, and relationship between them and us developed continuously during the entire event. Our company was always crowded with others finding us and we experienced that foreigners could also play a pivotal role among Chinese students. To illustrate, country that we belong to was C country and we managed to hold our country’s strategy meeting at our room. In the future, when I go to college, I strongly want to acquaint with more Chinese friends and cooperate with them.

           The last point I want to mention is teamwork. One team consisted of seven members: One CEO, two from product department, two from marketing department, and two from operation department. We exerted utmost teamwork, and the role of every member was indispensable. We did not care about personal awards at all, but devoted everything to our company’s development and growth. What I can say for sure is that we could not have had this good result without every single member. With the excellent product of product department, we could compete with other technology innovation companies equally under unfavorable conditions in the last fiscal year. On top of that, because marketing department moved around incessantly, making good relationships, selling our products and analyzing the market, our team was able to finish this competition with amazing blessings of relationship. Furthermore, thanks to operation department, which analyzed competition rules thoroughly and established proper strategies, our company could progress in right direction. I strongly felt that I want to work together with our team in the future, maybe in the same company. How beautiful we would look when we work together for good, depending on God’s word?

           Finally, I want to express gratitude to those who helped us and supported us throughout the competition. To God, who allowed us such an excellent experience and always walked with us with his words, to parents, who encouraged me with unchanging love, to Dr. Kim, who accompanied us throughout the competition, to Chinese teachers and teacher Ma, for those who helped me with the speech, to seniors, who were willing to help us though they were facing college entrance exams, to the host company, for answering our questions wholeheartedly, and to my firm fellow workers, sharing our joys and sorrows together. Thank you very much!

 

 

Winter Intensive Course (WIC) Reflection

Yuri Jang / SAP11
 

          I never anticipated WIC will be this hard. Yeah, it was Hell. I could not finish my first day homework even though I worked until 3am. I wanted to follow all schedule perfectly and memorize all words perfectly but I could not do as I expected. The more depressed thing was my SAT test score. Last year December, I took SAT and got really high score which was 1400. I thought it was reward of my 3 months hard working. However, every official test I took during WIC scored 1350. I was afraid that I might get lower score on March SAT test with this circumstance. That fear overwhelmed me. I was so worried everyday. However, swimming in this worrying pool didn’t help me. This stress won’t let me get higher score. I should think logically. It is true that there is possibility to get miserable score but who knows. I saw my weakness and saw the portion where I could improve easily. If I improve my writing and math score and maintain my reading score, I am able to get higher score. This WIC was a time for me to confront reality and overcome it. Now, at this point of ending WIC, I have confidence and hope to get though this winter vacation and running toward my goal! Thank you WIC.  

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Yunji Lee / SAP 11
 

          I felt a true marathon during this WIC. It was a short-term marathon to me, which I felt for the first time in SAP. Especially, on second week whenever I got SAT practice test in the morning, I wondered thousands of time if I can run out of this classroom shouting to Ms. Esther and say “I won’t like you during this WIC!!!” I wondered thousands of time if I should write love letters to Ms. Esther on SAT essay paper or not. But, when I finally decided not to do, when I finally decided to face my limitation, I learned one thing. I learned that the marathon and the limitation shows me who I am and where I am and to know where I am is the start of everything. What I learned for WIC is to know myself and I realized this when I saw my datas on Mr. David’s laptop. Percentages of getting right for each question types, percentage of how I’m doing on each of passage types… and when I finally knew where I am, I knew where to start and how to do it. I won’t be able to learn this unless I face my limitation. To pick one of the biggest challenge during WIC, I would like to say “mental disorder”. Marathon disguised under the name of “test” was a chaos itself, and it was something more than stamina. But I think I could overcome it because there was Julie, Jenny, Joyce, Ann, Miri and Taylor whom didn’t give up facing this WIC. Without them, I would surly talked to Mr. Kang and ask him to send me back to Korea. Every language and joy I shared with my friends help me to get though the difficult time during WIC. Now, I would like to apply things I learned from WIC to my JD (Journey with King David) and next semester. As I mentioned previously, I knew where I am through facing my limitation. So I would like to start studying from where I should be. During JD and next semester, I would like to face my limitation to develop and change where I am right now. 
 

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In Wanbang School, we educate students to take 'vacation' as a continuation of a school term and call it JD (A Journey with King David). Students will be able to practice what they have learned in school to outside and gain self-leadership. Through such learning experience, they will share the joy to the people around and bring positive influence.

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 Winter Intensvie Course (WIC) Reflection

Miri Kim / 10th grade

          Before WIC, honestly I really didn’t want to do it. But, now I think it was a good experience. I had a different schedule than the others. But, during WIC I learned that if you have a positive mindset then you are able to do it. The biggest challenge was memorizing the vocabulary and taking lots of math classes. For memorizing vocabulary, I slept at 1:00~2:00 everyday trying to study 100 words into my brain. But, with the positive mindset and that this is all for my good. I just kept memorizing. I wasn’t able to overcome “Math” classes and “Math” in general. But, I think I improved in my math skills a little bit. What I can apply what I have overcame, I am able to apply it when I go back to JD. I will also be studying, so I can use my overcoming abilities and positive mindset to strive to do better. Also, I can apply this in my next semester. When I study for the SAT and next WIC. I can look back to my “last year”. And remember, how to do better. How I can improve. The main thing that I learned is that you are able to do greater if you do it “Together”

It was a Wonderful Interesting Colorful two weeks of studying.
 

Hawon (Samuel) Choi / 10th grade
 

          This time of WIC was the most intensive course comparing to previous WICs. It was a time when we are easily get excited because it’s right before winter break. So, I am thankful for that I can avoid this by an intensive course. I’ll definitely say I learned a lot. Although it as only TOEFL itself, I think I learned English in general. Beyond that, I learned how to be confidence the most. Now I am kind of getting what “English” is, and understand what I should do to improve my English. I had many barriers before WIC, for example to much “uh” in speaking section, not managing the time wisely in reading, and so on. I am happy that all of these are getting better, or still in process of improve at least. I ‘m glad I overcame these difficulties. As I mentioned, more than TOEFL, it is English that we are learning. For my next semester I’ll read more books, memories vocabulary, and involved in many activities to enhance my English skill. I ‘ll make this plan more practical and efficient. 
 

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                                        Hawon Choi                                                                 Miri Kim

Life – Embrace it, Engage to it
 

           By looking at the name Pearl S. Buck, I imagined this story would be about some western people, because I couldn’t associate the author’s name with Eastern cultures; however, different from what I thought, this book The Good Earth depicted the life of a Chinese farmer named Wang Long. I realized that the author had spent most of her childhood in China with her parents who came to China as missionaries. The book The Good Earth written by Pearl S. Buck, a blue-eyed Chinese, impressed me with its story about a life of a man who was born, lived, and died on earth; it is not an exaggeration to say that the earth represented his whole life.
 

           As all human beings belong somewhere, Wang Long belonged to his land. He was a diligent farmer who attained everything he needed through his hard work on his land. I felt interested in Wang Long’s life, because his life showed readers about how he truly lived life engaging in something that he belongs. Throughout his life, he went through both hard times and successful times. When he was poor, he and his family moved to the southern part of the country and maintained living by bagging and enduring work that required great amounts of labor. It was certainly a tough time for his family. However, after few years, he was able to cultivate abundant crops from his land and eventually he became the landowner of large portion of land. I though his story had some similarity with the earth because of two reasons: first, people cannot expect what will happen in their life nor in nature, and second, people’s life and nature both contain up-and-down trends throughout time. One’s life is full of unexpected events and because of this fact, people actually cannot know whether their next event would be pleasant or unpleasant. One attitude that I appreciated from Wang Long was that although there was time when he had to go through difficulties, he still loved his land. I really liked the fact that he embraced everything that the land gave to him – even the severe drought – because I felt like he was really becoming the part of story where he belongs. He devoted everything to the land and lived a life on the land.
 

           Thinking about what “land” meant to him, I could understand why he was so obsessed with his land. Even at the time when he was old and wealthy and did not need to farm to sustain his life, he refused to sell out his land – he was furious when he heard that his sons were planning to sell the land. Land meant more than a piece of soil to him. To him, it was his everything that represented his identity. When I read this part, I was curious to what made him love land so much. If I were him, I think I might have felt sick of the land just like his third son did – his third son was tired of farming that he even felt hatred towards the land. I compared Wang Long’s life and my life: as a student, I study in school and as a farmer, he cultivated his farm. However, the emotion I am feeling towards school is not as strong as how Wang Long felt towards his land. I wondered what made this difference. Contemplating for a while, I came up with an answer that it is because Wang Long dedicated his everything to the land while I was putting effort to my academic as much as I could.
 

           The book The Good Earth made me to think about one question: have I ever dedicated everything for something? Actually, to be honest, I never did something putting 100% of my effort. The term “as much as I can” means about 80%~90% of my effort. I never felt eager to devote everything I had for several different reasons that I will not mention in this writing. Well, by looking at Wang Long’s life, I felt like I found a reason why I get frustrated studying so easily; I have not put enough effort and passion to it. Engaging into something is like making an investment. More the effort, time, passion I put into something, the more engage I will be into something.
 

           I learned numerous life-learning lessons from this book. However, if I should pick only two, I would say: embrace every circumstance that I face while living, and engage deeply into things that I am doing. For me, as a student, I face many different situations and get many different assignments to accomplish. As an 11th grader, I am facing a new challenge called SAT. I know that my grade will not come out just as I want, but I believe that life is not only made up with sad stories. I would need to embrace this challenge, because those challenges are given to me as a presents. Also, I will try to be more engaged in all situations that I face throughout my story and be responsible for it. I feel sincerely thankful for the author writing such an amazing piece of work for readers and telling a story of man who was deeply engaged with his own story of life.