Since its founding last year, Son Su Rae has been active in organizing various activities around the KAIST campus to help make the university a “fun place to be.” This year, Son Su Rae is holding a joint club event, Club Son Su Rae, for KAIST students to enjoy the Son Su Rae club on the first day and the club Cocoon on the second day of the party. The KAIST Herald met with Eun Jun Jung, the president of Son Su Rae, to find out more about their current activities.

Could you briefly introduce yourself and your organization?

Hello, my name is Eun Jun Jung and I’m a junior majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering. I’m the President of Son Su Rae, which was established in spring 2011. Basically, Son Su Rae is a club that organizes many fun and interesting activities for KAIST students.

What were your motives for establishing Son Su Rae?

Son Su Rae was first organized by a small group of my friends who wanted to create fun events and activities for our school. When we first came to KAIST, we felt that the lifestyle here was quite dull and boring. You don’t see many students out on the streets and there is not much going on around campus. We wanted to do something to add more vitality and spirit to life here at KAIST, so instead of just complaining about this situation, we decided to act on it and organize fun activities on our own to change the school atmosphere. It is not an official school club and we just want to keep it as a small, casual meeting among people who are interested in organizing such events.

Could you tell us about some of the activities Son Su Rae organized? What was the most memorable experience?

During last year’s festival week, we opened a bar in front of the creative learning center for three days. We carried drinks on a cart and sold them as we moved around campus. That’s when we came up with the name of our group, Son Su Rae, which means cart in Korean. Because in Korea a cart is usually associated with the image of transporting charcoal briquettes, we thought it would be a great idea to donate the money we earned during those three days to buy charcoal briquettes to give to the poor who cannot afford them. We bought about 200 briquettes and donated them to a charity that gives them out to the poor. During normal school days, we sometimes organize small games and activities in front of the school cafeteria and give out small prizes. Last year’s Son Su Rae bar was the most memorable experience for me. We did not expect that much attention from so many people, but as we opened the bar many people gathered around and even danced to the music we played and just had fun. This motivated me to plan a bigger event this time that more people can enjoy.

Could you tell us about Club Son Su Rae? How did you organize it?

Club Son Su Rae is a two-day party during which students with tickets can enter the club on the KAIST campus, and also the club Cocoon for free on the second night of the party. The tickets are sold at 5,000 Korean Won and free beer is also provided. There will be many other activities at the club, such as free tequila time. I have been to many different club events held on campus but I was disappointed to see that they were not very successful. I wanted to make a club where people can really have fun. However, because we do not have any experience of planning such big parties, we visited the Cocoon, the largest club in Daejeon, and met with the owner of the club to suggest that we hold a joint club for students at KAIST. So I think Club Son Su Rae will be the largest club event that KAIST has had so far.

What is the advantage of being in Son Su Rae?

Organizing fun activities on our own is itself a very meaningful experience, but being able to donate the money we earned through doing something we enjoy is even better. If we try to make a profit out of the activities, we thought it wouldn’t be fun and meaningful anymore, since we will be put under the pressure. So we decided to donate the money we earn each time we hold some kind of event. This time, we are planning to donate the money to be used for our university’s students, such as installing smartphone chargers at the Creative Learning Center. We are currently talking to the school administration about it and we are not sure how it will turn out just yet.

Do you have any last comments for the readers?

Club Son Su Rae will be very fun with various activities to grab your attention. I hope many of you can come. Above all, I hope the school can be more vibrant and exciting through the activities we organize. We will be recruiting people who are interested in joining Son Su Rae, so please look out for the notices in the future.