Visitors Treated to Day at 'Kosa High'

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Soohyun Lee selects food items offered at Kosa High, a cultural immersion event held April 12 at the University of Arkansas.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Visitors to the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building at the University of Arkansas were treated recently to a day at “Kosa High.”

The cultural immersion event, organized through the International Students and Scholars office, the Korean Student Association (KOSA) and the Associated Student Government, demonstrated South Korean culture via a classroom experience. Previous cultural-immersion programs have focused on the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Colombia, Japan, Indonesia and Ghana.

Kosa High included “sports day” activities, classroom experiences and a Korean lunch.  

The immersions allow international students to show Americans and other international students what their cultures are like, said Cynthia Smith, assistant director of outreach for International Students and Scholars. Nearly 250 people registered for the South Korean immersion, held on Saturday, April 12.

The U of A’s Korean Student Association and the International Culture Team chose to demonstrate South Korean culture via a classroom experience, according to Minji Park, president of the Korean association and a senior majoring in pre-childhood education in the College of Education and Health Professions.

Park is one of 59 students at the U of A who are from South Korea.

The event took place four days before a ferry carrying 475 people, mostly high school students, sank off South Korea’s southern coast. As of Tuesday, the accident has claimed the lives of 193 and 109 are still missing.

The cultural immersions began in 2005, with a Colombian carnival party. There were three more that year, each drawing 50 to 100 people: a Jordanian formal dinner, a Filipino wedding and reception and a Ghanaian baby-naming ceremony.

The immersions were smaller and less elaborate in the early years but have grown to include larger spaces, more volunteers and a greater depth to the programs, leading to just one immersion a year starting in 2007. Kosa High was the 13^th cultural immersion.

Collaborative partners for the immersions include and the campus’ Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, Altrusa International, academic departments and registered student organizations.