On Saturday we kicked off a new service/outreach initiative in the MS. Our Student Life Minister Ms Choe and one of our active colleagues and parents, Ms Chang recently started a conversation with a couple who are Pastors of a church near Suwon Sports Stadium. The Pastors run afterschool tutorial sessions for the local kids, most of whom come from broken and/or underprivileged homes. Both Ms Choe and Ms Chang knew that we had been looking for opportunities for our MS students and faculty to contribute to our local community through meaningful and repeatable service and they quickly realized that this is just what we had been waiting for.
So on Saturday the Pastors brought 13 elementary aged students to GSIS to participate in a Chapel, story time, computer time, games, swimming, and lunch. Each child was paired up with one of our MS students, 20 of whom selflessly gave up their Saturday for this worthwhile service. The day was also generously supported by Ms Choe, Ms Chang, Ms Kim in the library, and Ms Smith and Ms Wendling in the pool. Our visitors had a wonderful time and they all said that they can't wait to come back again - we are also excited about our next day together scheduled for December.
I was extremely proud of our MS students and the way that they put their own wants and needs aside for the day to serve these children. I know our MS students gained a lot from this experience and I was very pleased to hear that they will all be signing up to help out again next month.
I have been discussing this idea with our Student Life Minister for some time so it was great to see it come to fruition. Saturday was a wonderful beginning and I hope it is proves to be the catalyst for an expanding and growing community service program here at GSIS.
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