UCLA hosts conference for Korean community

By Amie Howell
Daily Bruin Contributor

The Korean American Student Conference will come to Los Angeles
for the first time when it hosts its annual convention at the
Westin Airport Hotel from March 29 to April 1. The convention will
spend one day, March 31, at UCLA.

For some students, the convention in L.A. is long overdue.

“In order for KASCON to truly be a national conference, it
has to be held in California,” said Jennifer Chong, a
fourth-year political science and sociology student who is the
executive director of this year’s KASCON forum.

Founded in 1987 by Princeton University students, KASCON has
become the largest ethnic student conference nationwide, and
annually meets to address issues within Korean American
communities.

While at UCLA, the convention will showcase an interactive
career center and Korean American exhibition.

The event is open to all UCLA students with valid school ID.
Students will be able to speak personally with Korean Americans in
professional fields ranging from law to media, and explore booths
maintained by various student organizations.

Through this exposure and networking, the convention partly
serves to extend connections to students who might otherwise
gravitate to a narrow range of careers.

“You can be just as successful in any field,” Chong
said. “We want to encourage people to pursue their dreams
“¦ pursue what they really want to do.”

Though typically an East Coast event, KASCON is meant to unify
Korean people from around the globe.

“It’s about time people knew about this in the
West,” said Grace Choi, a second-year political science and
history student who serves as the director of media relations for
the event.

Choi emphasized the conference’s goal of unifying Korean
Americans to better serve their communities.

“We learn from the past,” Choi said. “Yes, we
can actually achieve even though there are so many differences and
difficulties. People learn to help their community ““ to go
out there and do the best they can.”

One example of the need for community unification which will be
addressed in the conference is the aftermath of the 1992 L.A.
riots. The destruction to many Korean owned businesses will be a
focal point for lectures and discussions because it is pertinent to
KASCON’s presence in Los Angeles.

“The riots forced a lot of people to wake up because they
were living their own lives,” said Kimberly Jo, a second-year
political science student and speakers relation contact for the
conference.

“They needed to unite. That’s one thing our
community was really lacking. They didn’t have unity.
Everyone was doing their own thing and they were being successful
on their own,” Jo added.

In order to plan for the future, Chong made it clear that KASCON
must examine the past.

“In order for us to progress as a community, and to move
forward and to strategize for the future, we definitely need to go
back, look at the past and then evaluate where we stand
today,” Chong said.

In addition to examining historical precedents, the conference
examines a variety of other topics pertaining to Korean Americans
including the glass ceiling in the professional world, the changing
expectations for men and women and the relationships between
students and their parents.

“We’re a new generation. We’re not Korean and
we’re not American, so we’re basically creating our own
history,” Jo said. “We deal with our own specific
issues, all of our own problems … and even though we’re all
at different ends of the United States, we share common
experiences.”

The clash between generations is something that is addressed to
improve communication in the Korean American community.

“We’re second generation mostly, and our parents are
from Korea, so there are difficulties dealing with our parents
because there are two different generations involved,” Choi
said. “One is very conservative and the other is pretty much
liberal.”

It is this desire to spread awareness and opportunities to
Korean American students that inspired Chong to put the bid in for
UCLA to host KASCON. She attended last year’s conference at
Rutgers University. Though the convention will not be back in
Southern California next year, her goal is to see withstanding
effects once KASCON is over.

“I hope that next year, after KASCON comes and goes,
we’ll know that it was here ““ we’ll see its
effects on our student organizations and community,” Chong
said.

EVENT: KASCON will be at Ackerman Grand
ballroom on Saturday, March 31. The event is open to all UCLA
students with a valid ID.