Connect H arding students excelled at forming bonds that transcended campus, social clubs and departments. They invested in relationships by spending time together beyond the school year, getting to know each other's backgrounds. For example, seniors Soyun Kim, Becca Godman, Bruce McMullen and Lewis Jackson spent July in South Korea teaching English in kindergartens and traveling the country. The four students became friends through their participation on the men's and women's golf teams. Kim, from Deajon, South Korea, invited the other three to visit her home and to teach English at the two kindergartens her mother owned in Deajon. Once Godman, McMullen and Jackson accepted the offer, Kim's mother booked all the tickets. The travelers flew separately and arrived a day apart. "We had no clue what we were getting into, what it looked like or where we were staying," McMullen said. "We just agreed to go." The four friends stayed at Kim's house with her family in Deajon. They worked at the kindergartens three days a week, mainly spending time loving the children and playing games with them. They also served as teachers' assistants during the English classes, reading books and singing with the 3 to ?-yearold kids. Time with the South Korean children was precious to the group. They showed love to the kids and, unexpectedly, received it in return. "Koreans do not have a 'B' sound in their language, so my name was hard for many of the kids to pronounce," Godman said. "Most of them called me 'Pecca,' and every time they came to class, they would say, 'Good morning, Pecca teacher. We love Junior Haoxuan Dou shows junior Elise Moore drawings at the Chinese Moon Festival Oct. 12. The festival, hosted by the Chinese Student Association, featured traditional Chinese food and games. Hillary Miller 34 !International Students travel home with international student Uni Kim you' and form a heart with their arms over their head. That is a memory I will always carry with me." The other four days of the week were field trip days, and Kim's parents took the four of them all over the country, hiking, touring some of South Korea's oldest towns and visiting the capital, Seoul. "Her family is very outdoorsy, so we were always going on these different little trails and mountains," McMullen said. "South Korea's terrain is pretty mountainous and hilly, so it was just awesome." Because the group had never spent so much time together, it took time to adjust to living together. However, they were soon cracking jokes with one another, even though they did not all speak the same lan~uage. Kim had to translate for the other three students because none of them could speak Korean. McMullen was from South Africa, Jackson from England, Godman from the United States and Kim from South Korea. McMullen said the group marveled at their diversity and at how quickly they became comfortable with one another. "All we had was each other in the middle of this place where no one else could speak the language," McMullen said. It was a good experience for the students because the trip challenged their perceptions of cultural diversity. The trip had such a significant impact on Jackson that he planned to move to South Korea after graduation. The group of friends learned from both the kindergarten children and the land of South Korea that there was beauty everywhere, and all children were God's children who needed to be loved. Savannah Lee Senior Lewis Jackson strikes a pose for children drawing him at an elementary school in Daejeon, South Korea. Jackson and two other Harding students traveled with junior Uni Kim to her home in Daejeon over the summer to teach in elementary schools and to learn about her culture. Courtesy of Uni Kim
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