On March 27, 2023, UTSA held its first Korean Major Day. The event was hosted by Korean professors Hyewon Kim and Dr. Deukhee Gong. Korean Major Day was created for students who are majoring, minoring, or simply just interested in studying Korean. Approximately 30 students gathered in the room to learn more about studying Korean at UTSA and their potential career options for the future.

The event began with a short introduction given by the professors and students. Gabrielle Martinez, a 2020 UTSA graduate, spoke about her experience as a teacher through the EPIK program. EPIK is a teaching program in which English speakers can teach English to students in Korea. Gabrielle gave great insight about living and working in Korea, her interview prior to being accepted, and how her teaching career went.

 

Followed by Gabrielle’s presentation, Isabella Meador talked about her language journey and how Korean helped her get to where she is today. Isabella mentioned that she took a different route with the Korean language. Rather than working as a teacher, she works as a social media marketer at a Korean company in San Antonio. In addition to giving the students many tips, she strongly encouraged them to speak Korean whenever possible.

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Payton Garcia, another speaker, is a flight attendant at American Airlines. As a result of her background and knowledge of the Korean language, she mentioned that she is able to assist Korean passengers more effectively. The last presenter, Geeana Ervin, is another teacher who is still living in Korea and working at a hakwon (private academy) in Korea. She talks about life as a teacher.

 

After the presentations, the students were served a variety of Korean dishes such as kimbap, japchae, and hotteok along with plenty of Korean snacks as an extra treat. When the students finished eating, they were invited to play games. The first game involved the students being shown a trivia question and lining up on either an O or an X, which was on the opposite sides of the room. This was done to indicate if the statement was true or false. The second game was a body language game. The students were lined up into groups of 5. The student in the front of the line was shown a word in Korean and in English, and had to pass along the word as fast as they could using only motions.

 

At the end of the second game, it was time to end the event. The students left with full stomachs and a plethora of new opportunities to take after graduation. The professors provided all of the students with prizes, which included cute socks and instant rice cakes.

All in all, Korean Major Day was a big success and the Korean department looks forward to hosting the event again next year.