TAMPA, Fla. — May is Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month. It’s a time to celebrate and share the stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
At the University of South Florida, a group of students is preparing for a trip to South Korea with their academic advisor, who created the study abroad program where he takes students to experience his Korean culture.
Kevin Lee has fond memories of South Korea, which he’s commemorated in a book he made with all of the pictures from last year’s trip. “It’s chronological of us going through Korea, all the different foods,” he explained as he flipped through.
This year, he’ll take another 20 students to visit his home country. “I was born in Korea. I came to the U.S. when I was roughly five years old, grew up in the Chicago area, so I had a lot of Korean influence.”
Lee says it wasn’t until he got to college that things changed.
“I never felt alone, but I think when I went to college it was the middle of nowhere, corn fields in Illinois, so it was a little bit more of a culture shock where there wasn’t much diversity.”
That’s why he created the study abroad program at USF’s Honors College. Students spend the spring semester learning about Korean culture, then spend three weeks studying in South Korea.
Daven Mejica is one of the students who will be attending this year. “You have the culture here in America, so many different cultures, but in Korea, it’s a lot different. You’re in a homogenous society where they have their traditions, they have their norms, they have their rules and as a foreigner entering there, you have to respect that,” he said.
Mejica is Filipino, but has grown up here and hasn’t visited the Philippines since he was 10. He can relate to Lee and says he doesn’t feel as connected to his culture as he would like.
“I would love to visit the Philippines and visit my family, learn more about my own culture, and I feel that’s probably another thing for another year,” he said.
Lee says he hopes his class, and trip to south Korea, helps other Asian American students not feel so distant. “I’m helping them navigate how can you be yourself, how can you hold onto some of your values that you’re learning in this us education system and society being American, but also still hold onto that Asian identity.”
Helping students combine their cultures, but never forgetting where they came from. The students leave for South Korea on May 6.