Su-yi Wong was elected as President of KISA this past December and has officially begun her one-year term this spring semester. The KAIST Herald met with Wong to discuss some of her perceived obstacles as well as her future plans for KISA.

▲ New KISA President Su-Yi Wong | Igor Chertkov

Hello, could you give us a brief introduction of who you are as well as a description of KISA?

I am an international student from Malaysia and this is my third semester at KAIST. I am majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering and minoring in Management Science. The major goal of KISA was originally to culturally enrich and nurture the foreign student community at KAIST whilst bridging the gap between them and the school administration. It also organizes many activities such as freshmen orientations, sports festivals, field trips, food festivals and movie nights. Growing alongside KAIST's globalization, KISA now consists of more than 600 international students eagerly looking forward to reinforcing the mutual relationship with the local Korean community. KISA aims to provide useful information to students via different communication media such as KISA’s website, Facebook and email.

I have heard that you are the youngest to serve as the president of KISA. Do you think this might affect your capacity to serve as an effective president?

That is correct; I guess that to many people this seems like a great challenge, but for me, I take it more as an opportunity to learn from the seniors in the KISA cabinet and to learn how to become a good leader. I am not worried about the fact that I am the youngest because everyone in the cabinet is always willing to help and support me in terms of organizing and managing the club. Without my dedicated members, there is no way I can carry out my duties with maximum efficiency. In my opinion, every member plays a great role within an association and so I stress democracy within the cabinet and consider each and every member’s feedback and opinion deeply. Hence, despite being the youngest president, I am able to work very well with all the members based on that principle. However, after becoming the president, I realized that the people I have to work with are not limited to only KISA cabinet members, but all 600 international students at KAIST, the Office of Advising and Support for International Students, the Graduate Student Association (GSA), other student groups such as the International Student Organization (ISO) and MOSAIC, and many more. At the beginning, I thought it was a huge responsibility for me. However, after I really got involved with these people and worked with them, I realized that I actually enjoy it very much. I built many good relationships with all these people and we even foster good friendships among us. I never knew that working with a large community would be so exciting and the experience is just priceless.

As an active member of KISA since coming to KAIST, you must have experienced first-hand KISA’s efforts to help international students when you yourself were a freshman.  How do you feel about the job that past KISA presidents have done?

From my short experience of having been an international student at KAIST for just two and a half semesters, I strongly feel that the previous presidents, together with their members, have put a lot of effort into making the KAIST campus a friendly environment for international students. I don’t know about how it was before I came here, but the period during which I have been at KAIST has been filled with ups and downs for me. I believe that this applies to every international student living in any country, not just to those in Korea. I feel that no matter how much others try to help, it really depends on the person and how he chooses to live his life. I believe that the past presidents have done a great job in improving the environment for international students but, of course, there is always room for improvement.  

As president, what are some of the joint projects that you are working on and planning for this semester?

The most recent successful project that I am managing is with a volunteer organization called MANNAM to start free Korean language classes at KAIST. They also organize several big events throughout the year and all international students are welcome to participate. Of course, KISA will announce to the students when the time comes. Furthermore, about the welfare of the international students, we welcome any suggestions and opinions about life on campus and if some students have any dissatisfactions or problems, we will try to help as much as we can. Also, in the future we will have many social events, such as the strawberry party and BBQ picnic for this semester, where students have a chance to befriend each other and socialize. Besides these events, students are welcome to provide feedback and give their opinions to any of the cabinet members since our contact information is available on our website. Also, I have spoken to the GSA representative and we are working on making all school notices available in English so that international students do not miss out on anything. Beginning this semester, we have recruited several Korean students in our cabinet and in the future I hope that activities run by KISA are not just for international students but for all KAIST students!

Under your leadership, how do you expect KISA’s role in the student community to grow?

Right now, we have actually started working with the ISO. They used to organize events for exchange students but have now opened up their events to all international students. This, I believe, is a good start. The position of KISA would definitely become stronger due to the quick increase in the number of international students in KAIST. Hence, with the fast-growing number of international students, I hope that KISA will become better established and blend well with the domestic students. I strongly believe in the importance of cross-cultural experiences. 

Thank you and good luck as President!

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