On Friday April 29, the Korean Student Association (KSA) hosted a campus-wide event called “Korea Plus.” KSA members provided food at the event, but in order to receive a plate of bulgogi (grilled beef), kimchi (spiced cabbage) and sushi, each hungry student had to participate in a set of activities. In order to receive the necessary three tickets, student could color and assemble a fan, write their names in Korean or play a game that involved throwing colorful sticks into a jar a few feet away.

Junior June Tsujimoto commented, “Korean culture has grown at Calvin. People want the food and are also open to learning about the culture.” By requiring students to participate in activities before getting food, senior Natalie Dunn expressed that KSA hopes to “educate foreigners about Korean culture, and at the same time, allow Korean students to express theirs.”

About an hour into the event, performers took to the stage. The parade of performers is as follows: Dan Kim; ODD crew; John Bak & senior girls; Naughty Boys; Minsoek Kim, Hehjin, Hyung Gyu and Yohan Kim; JinSoo Park; and first-year girls dance.

Through a variety of songs and dances, KSA and other Korean Calvin students provided a glimpse into Korea’s vibrant street performance culture. At one point, the performers sang a well-known Korean song and the majority of the audience joined in. Of course, non-Koreans did not know the song, but as Tsujimoto explained, “It’s important that non-Koreans know that they won’t understand everything.” Despite not understanding every word sung or spoken, non-international students were able to gain insight into Korean culture and feel for a moment what it is like to be a foreigner to a new culture.

“I really liked how it was at Common’s Lawn, so it was open to anyone who wants to join,” Dunn said. “The event was definitely a success.”