[Donor of the Day] Oh Wang-seok, a GIST Graduate Student at School of Materials Science and Engineering

“I didn’t want to just remain envious of donation made at University of California, Berkeley.”

 

 

 

Oh Wang-seok, a GIST Graduate Student at School of Materials Science and Engineering

(First Graduate of GIST College, Graduated in 2014)

 

 

Oh Wang-seok is a first graduate of GIST College and is a graduate student at School of Materials Science and Engineering.

 

Mr. Oh donated one million KRW to Dreamfund and that’s quite much for a student. So I contacted him for an interview. You might have never heard of him but he is actually quite popular among people at Section of Public Relations and Funding, including me, as he delivered some news of UC Berkeley by writing an article for GIST newsletters as he was an exchange student at there and has participated in various promotional events.

I met Mr. Oh at a restaurant near the GIST. He was full of anxiety and excitement as a new chapter of his life begins as a graduate student.

 

1. Congratulations on your graduation with highest honors

 

 (Smile) I still cannot realize that I graduated with highest honors. Though I managed to keep fine records at GIST College, I couldn’t concentrate myself on classes during the last semester as I had to write a graduation thesis and therefore I was worried about my grades. I’m really honored to obtain such grand prize.

 

<Mr. Oh with his GIST College alumni (top-left of the picture)>

 

2. Now you’re a GIST Graduate student. How’s your feeling?

 

I had experienced research laboratories at GIST Graduate School during my undergraduate years but now I’m a graduate student. I’ve got acquainted with my new fellow students 3 to 4 years older than me and from other universities as well as with senior graduate and doctoral students. I feel like my graduate school is a ‘small community’ composed of various kinds of people. I have to get used to GIST Graduate School as soon as possible without taking some time for rest after graduating from GIST College to which I had fully devoted myself. I skipped my breakfast to prepare for my presentation (smile).

 

3. You’re a first student as well as graduate of GIST College. I think I wasn’t easy to decide whether to go to a newly-established regional college, right?

 

I had to study one more year to enter GIST College. I did a lot of thinking about which university I should go to. Of course I was thinking about going to a university in Seoul. But given superb academic achievement of GIST Graduate School proved by others, I thought I could devote myself to researches at the GIST with enthusiastic support from the school and professors. I also felt sympathy with GIST’s educational philosophy which focuses on the humanities as well as majors. And as you may know well, the GIST is a great place to study. I’ve never had a time to regret my decision.

 

4. What makes you make a donation to Dreamfund?

 

My donation is an expression of my gratitude for the enormous benefits I enjoyed while I was at GIST College for four years. I felt grateful for a lot of benefits I had such as staying at a dormitory, going to UC Berkeley as an exchange student, and others.

In addition, donation made by US undergraduates was deeply impressive. When I was at UC Berkeley as an exchange student, I was surprised at the fact that graduates made donations to the school for their juniors and the donations were used as scholarship and for school’s development. And I was envious of the fact that such donations were made voluntarily, though I know there’s a cultural difference between the US and Korea.

Moreover, I was also motivated by the donation made by my fellow students. I was amazed at Kim Yong-jun, the 1^st undergraduate donor of Dreamfund, and Yoon Da-woon, whose father as well as he were donors. I remember the case of Da-woon and his father was introduced by a GIST newsletter. Before I heard of their donation, I never expected that any of my fellow students would voluntarily donate money to my school. That was unbelievable. Then I decided to make a donation. But it was at the end of my undergraduate school years when I finally donated as I barely managed to catch up with my undergraduate schedule (smile).

 

5. It’s not the amount of donation that matters. But one million KRW is a huge money for an undergraduate student, right?

 

I think that amount includes interests accrued up to the date of my graduation as I put off my donation (smile). Yes, one million was huge for me; I had to gather my pay as a teaching assistance at the GISIT, allowance, and New Year"s cash gifts to make one million. But I wanted to make my donation meaningful as the first donor among the first graduates of GIST College and the number 100 (one million is 100 man in Korean; man = ten thousand) is identical with the number of first GIST college graduates, 100. Of course it’s true that I regretted a little after I paid the donation (smile).

 

6. Do you know that your parents also made a donation to the GIST?

 

Yes. They would tell me that they wanted to be donors of Dreanfund. I knew they made a donation but didn’t know that they had visited the GIST for donation. I never made any donation in my life before graduation but when I told them that I wanted to be a donor to Dreanfund before graduation they even advised that it should be better if I made lots of donation (laughter). I think they gave the donation to serve as a good model for me. 

 

7. Lastly, now you can be called as a scientist as you pursue your career at GIST Graduate School. Then is there any comment you want to leave?

 

I want to be the person who understand the fact that “science is also an activity conducted by a human being” and act accordingly. Many scientists focus more on academic impact of their researches, or impact factors. But scientific researches are carried out under the system of the society. That means, I think in-depth contemplation of direct and indirect impact of researches upon the society is necessary. And eventually I want to contribute to promotion of the discussions on the impact and help the results of such discussions utilized in a positive way.

To do so, I think I can do a lots of activities. For example, I can give lectures to potential scientists to communicate with them at schools and publish my opinions through writing and translation to engage in various discussions. Though they are not clearly defined, I think all of them share a common keyword, ‘communication.’