Studying at GMUK for a semester was a dream come true. I’m really excited Mason is going to create scholarship opportunities for students like me who had an opportunity of a lifetime achieved only because someone financially helped.
--Jessica Briggs, Global Affairs
We are publishing this newsletter just before the Chuseok holiday, sometimes referred to as “the Korean Thanksgiving.” Chuseok also kicks off our new Mason Korea scholarship fundraiser, which will run from Chuseok to the US Thanksgiving, and which we’re calling the Thanks Knows No Bounds fundraiser.
This fundraiser will help us create a scholarship program to support the travel of students with financial need from Mason Korea to Mason’s campuses in Virginia, and for US Mason students to come to Mason Korea to study. To meet this need, our goal is to raise $25,000 in honor of University Professor Peter Stearns, past provost of George Mason University. Professor Stearns was instrumental in the establishment of Mason Korea and continues to be its strong supporter.
Will you join us in this goal? Regardless of the size of your gift, your generosity will help students with financial need make this trip across national boundaries. It will provide them with cross-cultural and multilingual experiences and learning that will change their lives and help to transform them into the kind of global leaders we need today.
By awarding me the FFX Transition Support Fund, you have lightened my financial burden. Thanks to your support, I can make one more step to build a strong foundation for my future and goals. Your generosity has inspired me to help other students give back to Mason community. I hope one day I will be able to help Mason students to achieve their goals just as you have helped me.
--Juhee Hong, Economics
Referring to Chuseok as "the Korean Thanksgiving" always gives me a little pause. Yes, they are both fall harvest festivals, but does the reference to Thanksgiving diminish what is distinctive about the holiday? And in any case, why is Chuseok the Korean Thanksgiving, and not Thanksgiving the "US Chuseok"?
When our students gather together, here at Mason Korea or on our Virginia campuses, they confront questions such as these. How do cultures relate? How should we weigh their differences against underlying similarities? What are the implications of stressing cultural difference or human unity?
These are challenging questions with answers that emerge from the kinds of conversations our Mason students share in Korea and the US, every day. I will not seek to answer them here, except to observe two points about which I feel certain.
First, from these sorts of conversations, in and out of the classroom, our students will emerge with a better understanding of themselves and others, and of the challenges and opportunities of global society. And second, our students will be thankful to you who have supported them on their educational journeys—because thanks really does know no bounds.
September 14, 2021
