Hangul to Hanbok: A Community Comes Together During Korean Culture Week

Korean Culture Week radiated out from Sollim Lee (Willow, Ginkgo, Sequoia) who presented a sprint through Korean culture and history to just about every child at MST. She drew her audiences in with welcoming warmth. 

But Sollim credits Hanna Ma (Cedar), “who not only operated the slides during the presentation, but also created them so beautifully. She spent many hours preparing them, and I was honestly amazed by her dedication to perfection. She is truly incredible.” The presentations, that included clothes, food, holidays and language, were tailored to each level from Middle School down to Sunshine. 

When asked about her favorite moments from the week, Sollim observed “how children from ages 3 to 15 all paid attention to the presentation, how everyone enthusiastically enjoyed the traditional games and how each child reacted differently yet sincerely to the various activities. For example, when watching the pungmul nori performance clip, some children laughed or reacted with amazement, while others watched quietly but with deep focus.”

“But perhaps my personal favorite thing,” Sollim continued, “was having the chance to interact directly with almost all MST students across grades. Their eyes were shining with curiosity, and I truly envied the MST faculty and staff who get to work with such wonderful children every day.”

After the presentation, children got to participate in a variety of activities. Traditional games were especially popular. In jegichagi, players try to keep the shuttlecock aloft with their feet. By the end of the week, super parent volunteer Billy Martyn (Sequoia, Hazel) was performing impressive tricks in the course of helping the kids.

If footwork is not your thing, how about gonggi nori, where hand-eye coordination and speed were necessary to pick up a sequence of dice? Not into fine motor skills? Then you can slam ddakji on ddakji to try to flip them.

Students also wrote their names in Korean and made hangtags. Sollim was “impressed by how many elementary and middle school students were able to read and write basic Korean letters after just a few minutes of instruction.” Shout out to the parents who ironed hundreds of these!

Another engrossing activity was making hanbok, the traditional Korean clothes, with origami, called jong-i jeobgi in Korean. For the Sunshine kids, a team of volunteers pre-made hundreds of pieces. And for a personal touch, the extraordinary Nathalia Satsuma (Olive) prepared photos of each child to attach to their creation.

Eucalyptus may have gotten the best event of all, as parents taught the middle schoolers how to cook Korean food. AND eat it too.

The whole experience gave Sollim a deep appreciation for Parent Involvement. “One thing I noticed while preparing the event was how much work PI has been doing all this time. They have organized so many events, and each of them must have required tremendous effort. I also deeply felt the generosity of the MST community, who willingly volunteered and supported us throughout the event. They were kind, smart, helpful, fun—just everything.”

The feeling was mutual. PI Co-Chair Nathalia wrote “we want to thank our incredible Korean community and volunteers for bringing this week to life. Your time, love, and creativity made the experience so special for the children.” 

Special thanks also go to Seona (Willow, Maple), Yunny (Hazel), and Bo (Eucalyptus, Ginkgo) who were part of the core of the planning and preparation for the week. Their efforts and the time and energy from all the volunteers showed how dynamic our community can be when we learn and celebrate together. Korean Culture Week highlighted the warmth, creativity, and the generosity of the MST community.

Wind Edward Kim