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- [Newsletter] Interview with the GSA: Get To Know the New Team sanKaraka
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- 2025.02.04
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- 국제학대학원
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By Olga Pynenkova
Junior Editor, GSIS Newsletter
Stepping into a new semester, the Yonsei GSIS GSA is ready for a new and exciting semester under the leadership of its newly elected executive team. With a vision centered on transparency, accessibility, and inclusivity, the GSA is determined to make student life more engaging, diverse, and supportive. In this interview, GSA President Emma and her team share their motivations, plans for the upcoming semester, and the fresh initiatives they hope to bring to the GSIS community. Whether you are a returning student or just starting your time at GSIS, get to know the new GSA and what is waiting for you as a student in the spring 2025 semester!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your team? How many people do you have, what does each of you do?
My name is Emma, I am a 4th semester ITFM student in Yonsei GSIS and I will be this upcoming semester GSA President. The GSA executive team counts 3 other members, Louise Depuydt, 3rd semester ITFM students who will be the new Vice President of Finance, Jaekun Lee, 2nd semester ITFM student who will be the new Vice President of Internal Affairs, and Cai (Sasha) Yan, 2nd PIC student who will be the new Vice President of Public Affairs.
This semester The GSA team will have a total of 22 members, including 6 managers and 12 committee members besides the 4 executive officers. The GSA has 5 distinct committees, the Merch committee, Academic committee, MT/Gala committee, Social committee and Inter-GSIS committee. Each of these committees is led by one manager who get the help of 2 to 3 committee members.
Why did you decide to join GSA? What was your main motivation?
I joined the GSA for the first time last year (2024-1) as a manager of the Academic committee. My main motivation at that time was to get involved in the student life to meet new people, help new students, and create a safe and fun environment for the whole student body in GSIS! I was also a manager last semester (2024-2), this time I led the MT/Gala committee.
I was already thinking of being an executive officer last year (2024-1) as I campaigned to become a vice president for 2024-2. My team wasn’t elected but I never thought of giving up, and knew I would try again the semester after. Already during summer, together with Louise (current Vice President of Finance) we started planning what could be the future of GSA if we were to be elected. On our way to create a team we met Sasha and Jae in their first semester, now respectively Vice President of Public and Internal Affairs. That’s how the four of us started to discuss and decide what we wanted the future GSA to look like!
What are you planning to focus on this semester first? Have you already defined the main areas of your future work?
This semester, two of our initial values will be our focus: Transparency and Accessibility. Because we believe every student at Yonsei GSIS should be able to know what is going on in the GSA, we intend to have a new platform (website) to share key decisions from Board Meetings and Financial reports so that students know where their money is going. We are also working on guidebooks and handbooks on many different topics to make certain processes or information easily accessible. To give you an idea, we have already made an Inter-GSIS course application guidebook, and we are working on having updated guidebooks/handbooks about clubs in Yonsei and discounts on campus ready for the start of the semester. More might come throughout the semester, especially regarding thesis guidelines.
What new things do you plan to bring to the work of GSA and the life of GSIS in general? Do you want to keep some initiatives of previous teams, some events? What would you like to improve? Do you want to hold fundamentally new events?
Certain events, such as the campus tour, MT, and Speed Friend-Making, are essential for first-semester students. While the format of these events may evolve, we are committed to keeping them as part of our program.
That said, we aim to make this semester’s events more diverse and engaging. We plan to introduce more social gatherings, including relaxed, no-cost activities like movie nights and game nights. These events will offer students the chance to unwind and enjoy a fun, casual evening with friends without any financial burden.
As a fundamentally new event, we are planning on organizing an Esport event this semester. Many GSIS students are passionate about gaming and follow esports competitions closely, so we felt it was important to organize an event that resonates with their interests. Our goal is to create experiences that are meaningful, inclusive, and enjoyable for everyone!
What results do you plan to achieve by the end of the spring semester? What challenges do you think you will face in the process of work? What are the main qualities needed to succeed?
We aim to increase student participation in GSA activities by creating a more inclusive and engaging environment. Up until now, the lack of diversity in our events and the absence of fresh, innovative concepts have unintentionally excluded some students from getting involved. One of our key challenges moving forward will be to diversify our event offerings to better reflect the wide range of interests within the student body.
Additionally, we recognize the importance of fostering a welcoming atmosphere within the GSA itself. It’s essential that our team remains approachable and inclusive, avoiding any perception of being overly cliquish—especially for incoming students. This has been a recurring challenge for previous councils, and this semester, we are committed to making inclusivity a top priority, ensuring that all students feel encouraged and supported in participating in GSA activities.
How could you inspire other students to become more actively involved in extracurricular activities and various university activities, in addition to studying?
One of the GSA committees, the Inter-GSIS committee, is dedicated to organizing events with ither school’s GSIS. This semester we are planning on implementing a buddy program with the other schools so that students at Yonsei GSIS can have the opportunity to meet students from other universities right from the beginning of the semester. We are planning on having more than 2 inter-GSIS events throughout the semester as well.
As mentioned before, this semester the GSA will have its own website. One of the pages will be solely dedicated to GSIS clubs and organizations. Because some of them do not have any other platform than KakaoTalk or Instagram we want students to have access to clubs’ information, and be able to contact the clubs even if they missed OT or the club fair.