By Angela Chen, Chloe Mau, Susan Yang, Staff Writers
This past spring, junior Sophia Park and senior Kristen Zhou established the Korean Culture Club. The club leaders are devoted to increasing the students’ awareness of authentic Korean culture and hope to provide a place for Harrisites to sit back and discuss the rich history of Korean culture. This club values the idea of not only appreciating, but also being proud of one’s identity, and it currently meets every other Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Sophia explained that the club aims to broaden students’ view on Korean culture “through topics such as Korean food, traditional games, Hangul (Korean language), fashion, entertainment, etc.” This club places an emphasis on acknowledging cultural diversity, and is spotlighted for being “a great opportunity for Harrisites who are eager to learn more about Korean culture, or just to have fun socializing with people who share similar interests with them.” Currently, the founders are working towards pushing the club to a larger audience. Sophia said, “We hope to have events [and] webinars with guests that are related to Korean culture [including] Korean YouTubers, [and] influencers.”
“The purpose of our club is to promote and educate people on more, if not all, aspects of Korean culture,” Kristen said. “Korean entertainment like K-pop and K-dramas are pretty popular among many students at Townsend, so we thought people would be interested in expanding their knowledge with this new club.”
When asked to describe her motivation for starting this club, Sophia said that she has always hoped to be part of a Korean culture club in high school as she’s proud of her culture, and wanted others to learn more about it. She also said that “a lot of people already enjoy eating Korean food and know Korean music (K-pop), but don’t really know the culture and traditions.” The founders conveyed that they are hoping to have a school-wide event celebrating important Korean holidays such as Chuseok, once it’s safe for everyone to return to school.
The incoming members are excited to have a club dedicated to Korean culture at THHS. “From the two meetings that the club has had, I’ve had a pretty good experience. We spent time getting to know everyone in the club and did some virtual activities which I found fun,” commented junior Lauren Choi. “So far, I am enjoying this club.”
Although it is difficult to incorporate some activities “like trying out food and playing traditional games” amid the pandemic, Kristen said, “we’ve been trying to compensate with club events like movie night and watching K-dramas together.” Sophia also reassured, “we are trying our best to be fun and interactive.” The club is quite new for THHS students but it’s clear that it is planning to head in a huge direction.
Image from Pixabay
