By James Minki Kwon

Paul Sohn is a former employee at a Fortune 500 company who, upon realizing one day that his successful career had been nothing but a void without devotion to God, began a spiritual journey to overcome his ‘quarter-life crisis’; Carol Kim is an educator-turned-politician who finished 2014 San Diego City Council election, her very first race, as a runner-up; Clara Lee, who goes by AZRA, is a musician, life-coach and author whose book <Cupcake Theory> gained 5 of 5 on Barnes and Nobles review.

Colorful and stellar as such were the speakers from the first San Diego Korean American Youth Camp, held from August 4th to 5th at Hanbit Church (4717 Cardin St. San Diego). Featuring “All Star” line-up for the local Korean American community, the event was conceived and sponsored by San Diego Korean Association and Korean American Coalition (KAC) San Diego branch to give young Korean Americans “opportunities to learn their root and formulate their identity as Korean-descent”, says Jini Shim, the president of KAC San Diego. Ms. Shim was also tasked with running the event as MC, with aids from volunteers who are mostly young Korean Americans in their 20s. For such a nascent event without any backing from big businesses, dealing with more than thirty teenagers is by no means an easy task. Still, it seems that the camp managed itself pretty smoothly. “I liked all the inspirational stories and presentations at the camp,” says a participant, “Their experiences as Korean Americans made me rethink my identity and feel proud of it.”

The Korean American Association hopes to make this event an annual gathering of local youth. For more information, please visit http://koreanyouthcamp.weebly.com

Hello! 안녕하세요!

Planning on traveling to Korea and want to learn a few useful expressions? Know a few colloquial expressions in Korean since you grew up with your Korean grandparents, but curious to learn the language more in-depth? Want to simply learn a new language over the summer? Well, your timing is great because I’m planning on spending my summer teaching Korean classes through Korea Daily!

Please sign-up using this Google survey link

Location: Korea Daily office in the heart of “Convoy” (7750 Dagget St., Suite 206, 92111). Ample parking available.

Dates: 8 weeks of 1.5 hour classes to be held from 7:30 to 9pm on the following days

Wed, Jun 14 / Mon, Jun 19 / Wed, Jul 5 / Mon, Jul 10, / Mon, Jul 17 / Mon, Jul 24 / Mon, Jul 31 / Mon, Aug 7

Class materials: no book purchase necessary, as I will provide weekly study materials in advance via Google docs that you should print and bring to class. But if you have Sogang Korean 1A and 1B Student Books, please bring it to class as I will often be referring to materials from those books. So all you need to bring to each class is a notebook, something to write with, and an attitude ready to learn with fellow students of all backgrounds and proficiency levels!

Fees: Up to you! I will take donations of whatever amount you feel that you would like to provide. As a comparison, a local private language learning center called Language Door has students pay around $32 per 1.5 hour class plus a registration fee.

Questions? Feel free to send any questions via email (shimjini [at] gmail.com) and/or Kakao Talk (ID: cestjini)

*I’m open to taking private lesson requests, also. Please ask me about it if you’re interested.

[A little bit about my teaching experience: Since 2012, I’ve taught at various places including San Diego State University, Camp Pendleton, and Language Door. I’m also the online language teacher for KECOS, a non-profit based in Los Angeles.]