A Discussion with Gyoulee (Camille) Choi, Student, Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea

With: Gyoulee (Camille) Choi Berkley Center Profile

May 13, 2015

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in May 2015 undergraduate student Dana Drecksel interviewed Gyoulee (Camille) Choi, an undergraduate student at Sogang University in Seoul studying Psychology. In this interview, Choi discusses Sogang’s Jesuit identity and social action work through the university, including a service opportunity in Cambodia. 
Okay, so do you want to start off by just telling me a little bit about yourself? Such as what you are studying, your year in school, and anything else you want to share?

I am studying Psychology, and I am having a rest for a year. But before that, I was a senior.

Okay, great. Tell me about your experience here at Sogang.


I have taken many psychology courses. Those have been most of my courses.

In Sogang, you know, there are more handicapped students here than there are at any other university in Korea, and we provide really good services for them. So for students, you can apply for having… what do you call it… we can write down what the professor says for them… what do you call it?

Oh, take notes for the students?


Yeah, take notes for the students, the handicapped students. So I applied for that one year to write down the notes for him. And it was a good experience to have the class with him, and it was a really good opportunity to know each other, to learn about handicapped students, and what they really need, and the difficulties they have during classes, and that they have some of the same difficulties during the same classes. Yes, that is the one service that I did.

That’s awesome. Why do you think that there are more handicapped students here at Sogang than there are at the other universities in Korea?


I think it is because the services for the handicapped students here at Sogang are really organized, and I think that is because of Jesuit community. They try to provide education for all students, whether they are handicapped or not. So I think that’s why more handicapped students come here.


That’s great. Given your experience as a student, what can you say about the Jesuit presence on campus?


I think there is a large presence on campus, and that it adds value.

In what way?


They provide a lot of service, and opportunities for students to participate in service. Like the Cambodia service opportunity.

Could you tell me a little bit more about the Cambodia service opportunity?


Compared to other services, I really haven’t been to any other services, but I heard that some of the students who came with me to Cambodia have gone on other services abroad, that it was a for-profit company, so they were kind of advertising the company, but that’s the reason they have the service opportunity. But at Sogang, first of all, it is non-profit. So we could really experience the service by ourselves, not by the company.

That’s great. When did you go to Cambodia, and what sort of stuff did you do while you were there?


I went to Cambodia for one month, this year in January.

Awesome! What sort of stuff did you do while you were there?


Okay, well, the dormitory that we were in was, like, a handicapped school, which provides some technical education for the students. They teach the students how to provide or produce shoes, or the wheelchairs. It is also for students who are handicapped of the [inaudible]. What do you call it?

Mental handicapped?


Um, no… the bump… Land mine?

Oh, land mine!


Yeah, so they got handicapped from land mines. So they have like one leg, or something. So they are taught for two years how to produce some stuff, like shoes, or computers, or cell phones, and that’s where I lived. I could, like, play with them, like play basketball with them, or volleyball with them. During the day, because they have to go to classes, we would go to other hospitals, which are, like, run by Jesuit communities also. There are mentally handicapped people, and also AIDS people, so we kind of played with them during the daytime, and helped to feed them. Yeah, so, that’s what we did during the daytime.

And during the night, we come back from the hospitals, and we have dinner together. We would share the experiences together for, like, two hours… like what we felt during the day, what we felt throughout our experiences.

That’s great! What was it like to share your experiences?


I am pretty sure that Cambodia is very different than other services. In winter, we go to Cambodia, and in summer, we go to the Philippines. And we apply to the services, and they pick, like, 10 people for the service trips. So it was really wonderful to have the sharing, the talking of the experiences that we had. The first thing that I felt was not, like, service; it was just, like, experiencing the other people and the other culture. I learned more than I taught people.

That’s fantastic! Who else from Sogang came with you on the trip?


Ummm, faculty like a… umm…. brother? Jesuit brother. Yeah, and there were also some faculty that were, like, local faculty members, like brothers and fathers, and there were also some volunteers, so yeah.

Oh, cool. Sounds like there was definitely a Jesuit presence there! That’s wonderful. Is there anything that you would like to add about your service in Cambodia, or anything here at Sogang? Any specific stories that you would like to share?


Um, no, I don’t think so.

Okay, well, I think that answers all my questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me!
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