Mentoring and Giving Scholarships... Stories of Gaya High School Alumni

Have you seen such ‘alumni’?

Alumni of Gaya High School in Busan are supporting scholarships for their junior university students and even serving as mentors to help them enter society.

They have also united with one heart for the development of their alma mater and juniors by providing scholarships, relay special lectures, and mentoring for current high school students.

At the center of helping juniors is alumnus Koo Kyung-yeol (Gaya High School, Class 26), CEO of BNB Steel Co., Ltd. in Pohang. CEO Koo established the nonprofit organization ‘BNB Scholarship Foundation’ and has been supporting orphanages in the Pohang area and university students. Since last year, he has been providing scholarships to Gaya High School alumni juniors attending universities in the Busan area.

Last year, scholarships totaling 16 million KRW were awarded, with 1 million KRW each to 9 students at Dong-Eui University and 7 students at Dongmyung University. In February this year, 10 students at Inje University received scholarships of 1 million KRW each, totaling 10 million KRW.

Also, on the 27th, a scholarship award ceremony and mentee-mentor pairing event will be held at the Korea Press Center for 6 freshmen who entered universities in the Seoul area this year.

The mentoring program plans to provide practical help for juniors’ career paths and social advancement by connecting scholarship recipients who apply with senior alumni currently working in their desired fields, supporting them from university life to entering society.

Kim Chang-ryong, head of the Gayago Alumni Mentor Group, is giving a special lecture to juniors.

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To this end, the ‘Gaya High School Alumni Mentoring Group’ was organized, and an inauguration ceremony was held in Seoul on February 9. The head of the Gaya High School Alumni Mentoring Group is Kim Chang-ryong, former Commissioner of the National Police Agency and currently a visiting professor at Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Administration (Gaya High School, Class 29).

At the Seoul mentoring group inauguration ceremony, attendees included Head Kim Chang-ryong, Koo Kyung-yeol, CEO of Shinwoo Special Steel and BNB Steel, Kim Sang-yoon, CEO of BNK Venture Investment (Class 24), Kang Sung-sik, former Secretary-General of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Class 26), Park Min, editorial writer at Munhwa Ilbo (Class 28), Kim Sang-chul, non-executive director at Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute and former head of the Industrial Department at Dong-A Ilbo, Woo Byung-hyun, CEO of Asia Economy (Class 29), Choi Yoo-sik, head of the Northeast Asia Research Institute at Chosun Ilbo (Class 30), and Park Sung-ha, lawyer at Dongin Law Firm (Class 32). In addition to these, more alumni are joining the mentoring group.

Furthermore, to provide direct support to Gaya High School, on the afternoon of the 10th at 3 p.m., Head Kim Chang-ryong and some senior alumni visited Gaya High School, where the BNB Scholarship Foundation donated 3 million KRW in scholarships to current students and gave motivational lectures about dreams and the future.

On the 10th, at the BNB Scholarship Award Ceremony held at Busan Gaya High School, Chairman Gu Kyung-yeol of the Scholarship Foundation is presenting scholarship certificates to the juniors.

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The mentoring group’s career special lectures are held six times a year, with Head Kim Chang-ryong as the first speaker.

In the lecture, Head Kim emphasized to the high school juniors, “Do not set limits on yourself and always do your best,” and urged them to “gain broad and new perspectives through rich experiences.”

In May, Professor Jang Jong-wook of the Department of Computer Engineering at Dong-Eui University (Gaya High School, Class 26) will be a speaker, and in June, Lee Yong-woo, member of the National Assembly from Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and former co-CEO of Kakao Bank (Gaya High School, Class 28), will give a lecture.

On the same day, the Busan-Gyeongnam branch of the Gaya High School Alumni Mentoring Group and the mentoring group of university faculty and staff in the Busan-Gyeongnam area were also inaugurated. The inauguration ceremony of the alumni mentoring group was held at Naengsu-tang Garden in Gayadong at 6 p.m., attended by Head Kim Chang-ryong, Chairman Koo Kyung-yeol of the BNB Scholarship Foundation, participating alumni mentors, Gaya High School Principal Park Hyung-joon, former principals, alumni teachers, and high school scholarship students.

Chairman Koo Kyung-yeol of the BNB Scholarship Foundation said, “Senior alumni with experience and wisdom want to be guides for juniors who are struggling and worried about their studies and social advancement,” adding, “As more alumni want to participate in the scholarship and mentoring programs, we plan to expand the supported universities and number of recipients starting this year.”

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