Some of the KKOOM College Scholarship Recipients since 2011
We started the KKOOM College Scholarship Program five years ago to help make going to college a little easier for Korean orphans. To date we have supported 14 students in their studies, and 12 have successfully either completed their degrees or are making good progress toward graduation.
The first student we supported in 2012, Jindong, is now set to graduate in the winter and will enter the workforce immediately next year. He landed a dream job in Seoul at SK, one of Korea’s largest and most admired companies. Competition for prized jobs is fierce among college seniors, so despite Jindong’s strong grades and outstanding credentials, the odds were not in his favor to get a job at a major company. Yet, he did very well on both the written examinations and in-person interviews and was actually offered two jobs — one at Samsung Card and one at SK. We are very proud of Jindong and all of his achievements and look forward to following his success as he enters the working world.
Other KKOOM college scholarship recipients are also doing well. One young adult owns her own hair salon. It is small but successful, and she enjoys being in charge of her own affairs and clients. Another is pursuing a managerial career at a national chain restaurant. Another former student is working at a Samsung Electronics customer service center, where he fixes broken cell phones that people bring in. Recently, another got married and is working as a nurse in a nearby town.
The paths the KKOOM college scholarship recipients have taken are certainly diverse, but they are overwhelmingly successful, especially in comparison to the average young adult who ages out of an orphanage home without a college education. By encouraging young adults to consider going to college and supporting their financial expenses, we hope that the current college students can serve as role models for their younger “brothers and sisters” who look up to them in the orphanage homes.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our College Scholarship Program, you can check out previous blog posts here. We hope you will consider supporting our work by making a year-end donation so that we can help even more students go to college. As always, we appreciate your support.
