-Lee Kyung-ha, Winner of Presidential Prize
1. What is the meaning of the Presidential Prize to you?
The ‘Prize of Talented Person in Korea’ was the highest aim for me during college life. Upon finally achieving it, I felt a glow of happiness and, simultaneously, thought carefully about why I was elected. I concluded it was given to cheer on my dream and encourage me to fulfill it. Thus, whenever I step forward to my dream, I will remember the meaning of the prize. Furthermore, the prize arouses a sense of mission about my dream and functions as a source of energy to take a leap.
2. You might have done various activities before you received the prize. Through the activities, what have you learned?
I earned a couple of realizations. Through my first outside activity, I gained a motto: “Work diligently and well.” In every activity, people pursue ‘working well’. I agree with this to become a competitive person. Therefore, the most important factor is to find what one can do well and reap the fruit of one’s effort. Another realization is the necessity of a cooperative goal in a team project. Without focusing on the cooperative goal, a team cannot cooperate. To recognize each individual has a different goal is the first thing to set the cooperative goal of the team. The personal goals should be fulfilled with each other’s help after pursuing a common goal.
3. Your activity related to establishing a business contributed to receiving the prize. How did you start the activity?
Since my military life, I have considered establishing a business. People tend to merely speak, “It will hit the jackpot!” when they have popped out ideas about establishing a business, but do not show any follow-up action about it. However, I was determined to actually try it and worked in the field of business foundation. When starting the first activity related to business, I got inspiration from the school printer ‘eduprint’, which is for free. This printer shows advertisements of the printer on the bottom of paper. I applied the idea of this printer to establish a poster business. It is a burden for students to pay the high price of producing a poster. To lessen their burden, I thought of a poster which was cheap and had the advertisement of the poster business on the bottom of it.
4. Tell us an impressive story from among many activities that you have done.
I attended a competition named '2012 Campus Hero' which was organized by the Ministry of Education. In that contest each team was given a mission as a survival game. Thus the team that accomplished each mission had a qualification for the finals. The total number of the missions was five, but I heard that my team was left off in the fourth mission while doing an activity for three months. I thought my team did better than any other teams for a long time. Also, I was the team leader so I was sorry about saying to my teammates that we failed the contest. I called the manager and asked the reason why my team was cut from the contest. As a result, it turned out to be a mistake in the process of adding the scores. Eventually, my team went into the finals and won the grand prize in the competition. I still feel dizzy when I just think about the incident, but it was also a pleasant memory because I did the role of a team leader at my best.
5. What are your future plans?
I have a lot of plans because I like to make them. In short, the plans can be divided into two categories. That is, there are things related to employment and not related to employment. In brief, there are other aims besides employment: having a girlfriend and finding real interest. I was detached from girls because I thought that living fiercely was the best thing I could do after retiring from the army. But, looking back on it now, that was quite a stupid idea. I say that I want to find the true interest because I need an interest to lean on in times of trouble. Finding real interest is an important part of optimistic living, not only in college life but also in one’s lifetime.
6. Please give some advice to freshmen.
Looking back on my freshman days, I seemed like a knight of the night who guarded the old main entrance of CBNU. Of course, enjoying youth is an important thing. But, a more important thing is finding what you want to do and what you really want to do with your life. If you cannot answer this question, find activities enjoyable and fulfilling for you.
Up until now, we have learned how he tried to break his limited scope. Nowadays, there are many students who don't know what they want to do and should do. Keep in mind this precious advice from Lee Kyung-ha. To find what you want, you have to delve into many activities in person. From now on, do not miss out an enlightening experience that fosters your will to find your own dream.