KSEA YG Regional Summits 2022 – Los Angeles

Event Summary
The third annual YG Regional Summits aimed to develop regional networks among YG Group leaders and provide opportunities for the YG leaders to interact and discuss successes and struggles of each YG Group. The YG Summit was catered to the needs of the West Coast YG Groups, and YG Committee Members and National Board Directors attended the summit to facilitate discussions.

Los Angeles, CA (March 18-20, 2022)
Current and expectant officers from the Los Angeles area (USC & UCLA) gathered in Los Angeles to foster leadership development in their respective KSEA chapters. After a brief introduction of one another and getting dinner together, the officers were invited to share successes, shortcomings, and concerns or thoughts they had regarding their chapters or KSEA in general. Adding on, there were discussions about how to increase undergraduate retention as KSEA undergraduate membership has been declining over the past few years due to various reasons.

The discussions were held in a casual environment, in which officers were welcome to share their experiences as we sat in a circle. Formal presentations were not required, and discussions were based on anecdotal accounts. Regarding successes, other chapters were able to learn from each other, and regarding shortcomings, other chapters could give advice. The National Board Directors were also present, and they provided advice or referred to their own accounts from their respective chapters. The directors addressed concerns or questions regarding KSEA as well, such as how to navigate the bureaucracy of academic institutions, participation at various conferences, and more.

The YG Leaders also had the chance to discuss Community Service ideas for KSEA YG in hopes of giving back to their local community. They came up with many different ideas ranging from having a Korean Heritage Day as well as a Veteran’s Day Event to hosting a STEM Fair. USC and UCLA YG have built off ideas from this and are currently working to host a major fair in the next few weeks. Though this event targets high school students, they are also planning to drive membership for volunteers at the event based on strategies we have discussed at the YG Summit.

YG Session 1: Community Service Workshop
For the Community Service Workshop, we divided people up into two teams. Every member briefly presented their ideas about potential activities that KSEA can do as a group as well as their personal experiences volunteering back in high school.

One of the most significant ideas that the YG leaders came up with was a major fair where YG Group officers will introduce their majors and career paths to future college students. They are hoping to give back to the community as well as attract young talent and advertise KSEA so that those students will become the next generation of YG leaders. They also came up with various ideas including a Veteran’s Day Event, STEM Fair involving Korean Heritage, College Expos, Translating English documents into Korean, Tree Planting, and Mentoring First Generation College Students.

We hope that on top of the major fair which the USC, UCLA, and Harvey Mudd YG Group are collaborating on, the YG Leaders in LA can execute these ideas and use them to increase the membership in KSEA as well as awareness among people.

YG Session 2: Undergraduate Retention Discussion
For the Undergraduate Retention Discussion, we gathered in a large group and discussed current issues as well as future strategies with the supervision of YG Committee Leaders, Dennis Cha and Clara Kim. Many graduating seniors in college relocate to a different city for their new job and fear about missing out on potential connections as well as being involved with KSEA beyond graduation. We are still in the process of analyzing the roots of this issue as well as exploring strategies to improve upon this.

Many YG Leaders enjoyed benefits of being part of KSEA such as mentorship, networking, community, and conference attendances. Through our discussion, we came up with ideas on creating alumni newsletters for everyone to be informed of what we all do, as well as establish a role in each YG Group that keeps record of alumni/former contacts of the respective group. After the discussion, the National Board has decided to change the YG Session at Ygnite to “YG Group Leaders Session” to create a more inclusive environment for recent college graduates as we believe they can provide their own unique perspectives about KSEA. Many college students believe that the lack of affiliation with the school’s KSEA YG Group means that KSEA ties are cut, however, we are trying to establish better connections with YG Groups so that we can invite them to conferences and regional events. We are also looking into ways of hosting regular monthly socials and networking events as well as presenting a more undergraduate friendly avenue at KSEA events, including Ygnite.

YG Session 3: General KSEA Discussion – YG Groups
The challenges that we discussed were motivating people to get involved with KSEA, gathering people, engaging in new relationships, finding a place for the event, building an alumni connection, leveraging academic and social events, maintaining members, managing time effectively, and balancing cultural differences between Korean and Korean-American. Also, the successful transition to the next leader in each YG Group has risen as one of the important challenges.

The expectation toward the YG National Board from YG Groups are the help of recruitment, connections to and invitation of professionals, graduates, and speakers, and intermediation with other chapters and students. Another important topic was that many YG groups do not have good knowledge about what the YG National Board or YG Committee can do for them. The discussion was a great opportunity to share what aspects YG Groups need and ask for, and what the YG National Board can provide to support them.