Korea University: The six-week long International Summer Campus (ISC) comes to an end

The six-week International Summer Campus (ISC) program, which started on June 27, has successfully concluded.



Korea University held the International Summer Campus (ISC) graduation ceremony at Inchon Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. on August 4. Students in academic caps and gowns took their seats in the event hall.


In her congratulatory speech, Lee Hikyoung, the Vice President for International Affairs and the Dean of the ISC, congratulated the attendees and said that the ISC’s face-to-face and online events had both been successful. She also thanked all ISC students for their generous and enthusiastic participation, despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She concluded her remarks by saying that she was sure that the students would cherish the memories of the people they have met at the 2022 ISC, and that she hoped to see them again at the upcoming International Winter Campus (IWC).


Professor Praveen Parboteeah of the University of Wisconsin, who took to the podium on behalf of the participating faculty, said that he was grateful for the successful completion of the program, and congratulated everyone involved. He said he had thought a lot about what to say to the students in his congratulatory speech, and decided to talk about the impact of Korean culture through for example acts like BTS and the widespread embrace of TikTok. He said that as globalization accelerates in the future, it is important to take full advantage of great opportunities like the ISC, where people from all over the world can connect with each other. In addition, he urged the students to be sensitive to changes in culture and to have an open mind towards different cultures. He also hoped the students would maintain the friendships they formed at the ISC, and finally, he demonstrated his prowess at and his enthusiasm for Korean, when he concluded with “Gamsahamnida!”, thereby expressing his gratitude to the students who showed enthusiasm for the program.



Lee Hikyoung, the Dean of the ISC, presented the certificate of completion to the ISC student representative Ethan William-Anthony Lafond (University of Texas at Dallas) and KU Pre-college student representative Lian Henry Tucker (Huntington High School).


In his speech, Tucker induced laughter in the audience by recounting his experiences while traveling in Seoul. He said that he had been thinking a lot about which university to go to, and that the ISC program helped him concentrate his thinking. He also said that from the moment he arrived in Seoul for the ISC program, he decided to visit all the attractions in the city and that he’d had such a great time here.


Lastly, the attendees watched a video of what ISC students had been doing over the past six weeks, along with vlogs and a flashmob video of the students.



At the end of the ceremony, the students threw their academic caps into the air and took pictures with the faculty and staff who had been mentoring them for six weeks.