We are pleased to recognize people who have made significant contributions to the KSEA Next Generation. These are the leaders, organizers, connectors, DEI change-makers, and advisors who have contributed to the community. They are recognized along the following facets of Visionary, Inclusivity, Impact, Outreach and Neo. This year, we also recognize 4 outstanding YG Groups for their activity and contribution to the community.
Those that are recognized have been nominated by their fellow KSEA members, and we are pleased to recognize them below. Please join us in recognizing our fellow KSEA members who have contributed to our community.
NG Awards Selection Committee
Young Generation Committee
| Category | Recipient | Honorable Mention(s) |
| Visionary | Ryuhwa Stella Kim | |
| Inclusivity | Younggyun Kim | TJ Park |
| Sustainability | Clara Kim | Matthew Jeon |
| Impact | Jinho Park | Mujin Kim |
| Outreach | Jay Taegon Lee | Angie Jung Hye Min Kim Andy Kim |
| Neo | Amy Jang | Jonathan Kim Harry Park Taeyoon Jung |
| YG Groups | University of Michigan University of Southern California Georgia Tech University of Wisconsin | UCLA Seattle Rutgers UC San Diego |
Visionary
Recognizes those that contribute to our future, including through innovation, imagination, vision, initiative and planning.
Ryuhwa Stella Kim
Ryuhwa has played a key role in advancing the YG within KSEA. Through her collaboration with many of the leaders in our organization, she was able to identify synergies between the needs of the YG and KSEA overall, creating timely and practical solutions for key challenges. She has helped make improvements for the YG groups by streamlining the funding process, and working proactively with YG leaders through navigating these changes, through supporting efforts around writing funding proposals, their connections with their local chapters, and their involvement with national conferences. For her ability to work across KSEA, institutional knowledge, and tenacity in effecting change, we recognize her as a visionary leader.
Inclusivity
Recognizes those who have contributed to our community and culture in a way that affirms, shapes, and embraces diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion.
Younggyun Kim
Younggyun was co-president of the University of Southern California YG Group (one of the YG group award winners), along with Harry Park. Younggyun’s strengths as a natural networker has enabled him to connect with professionals, other YG group members, and new KSEA members with ease. This has allowed USC KSEA to bring diverse groups of individuals together, leading to their success in growing and strengthening their community.
Honorable Mention: TJ Park
Sustainability
Recognizes those that anchor the growth and longevity of our community, including through mentorship, people development, culture, and support.
Clara Kim
Clara wears multiple hats in KSEA, serving as Social Media Committee Chair, YG Committee Member, National Board Advisor, and HQ Branding Director. As an energetic and conscientious leader, she is continually leading new ideas that have created significant benefits for both YG and KSEA as an organization. As an advisor of YG National Board and lead for the Social Media Team, she has advanced the way that YG groups are managed and helped modernize the communications through new platforms that promote the undergraduate population of KSEA by featuring their events on social media, expanding funding opportunities, and encouraging their engagement with national KSEA events. In addition, she promoted sustainability by working with teams to ensure that their tasks are feasible, and aligning the teams with both stakeholders and outcomes to ensure success and a positive team culture. We recognize her hard work for novel initiatives within KSEA, and her sustainability-conscious approach that has contributed to KSEA’s continued success.
Honorable Mention: Matthew Jeon
Impact
Recognizes those that have made a significant contribution to our community through their leadership
Jinho Park
Jinho Park has served as the Project Director of this year’s administration. She has worked above and beyond, leading and supporting several very important projects that elevate KSEA activities, such as the KSEA new logo contest, KSEA Art Competition, and the iDrone competition. She is seen as proactive, energetic and extremely efficient, and her efforts have made a difference in these youth activities and have contributed to their success. Her coordination has a significant impact on elevating KSEA’s missions and values around community service.
Honorable Mention: Mujin Kim
Outreach
Recognizes those that have helped bridge the communities and sub-communities inside and outside of KSEA, such as intergenerational, intercultural, inter discipline, or with other organizations.
Taegon Jay Lee
As co-chair overseeing the startup program at Ygnite 2023, Taegon and his fellow teammates brought innovative strategies to the startup program and the website. Taegon worked hard on these strategies and made notable improvements to the Ygnite website, making it very user friendly and helping to attract more participants from all over the country. For the Startup Session, Taegon and his team had a solid vision on how to establish the startup program. By contacting numerous VCs and companies, and holding countless meetings, they were able to bring the best to Ygnite. Even when there were discouraging challenges in the early stages of organizing, Taegon and his team did not give up on making the startup program an exemplary program which was very popular among a large group of participants. The work by Taegon and his incredible team has brought Ygnite lots of new attention to the Korean American, and Korean community, contributing to our conference success.
Honorable Mentions: Angie Jung, Hye Min Kim, Andy Kim
Neo
Recognizes those who are supporting the rising generation, which can include emerging leaders as well as those supporting through developing the rising generation.
Amy Jang
Amy has a strong track record of leadership and has had continued commitment to support the emerging leaders of KSEA. Since her time as an undergraduate member of KSEA, Amy was involved in her student YG Group at MCPHS and volunteered to be a YG National Board director for two years, supporting the leadership development of YG Group leaders nationally. As an Ygnite 2023 co-chair, she worked with the members of KSEA YG to recruit new members to partake in the conference. As a co-chair of both program and sponsorship/gala team, Amy made sure that there would be space for the newer generation to involve themselves in the Ygnite programs, whether it be through the poster presentations or the YG leadership sessions. She is also part of the organizing team for the upcoming 2023 FIRE symposium for UKC, and her continuous involvement with KSEA organization demonstrates her contributions as an important new leader in KSEA, as well her development of new leaders through her service.
Honorable Mentions: Jonathan Kim, Harry Park, Taeyoon Jung
YG Group Awards
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech is one of the most active YG groups across the nation with a strong group of not only motivated E-Board Officers, but also regular members. Many of their YG members have been attending Ygnite and various events including YG Regional Summits. They have a great relationship with their Local Chapter President and continue to be inclusive. Locally, their signature “Beyond the Future” series allow students to learn more about various post-graduation career paths and annual socials with Emory YG Groups help foster inter school relationships. Their collaboration with Emory KSEA YG and continued interest towards national KSEA events are very noteworthy.
Special recognition goes out to the Georgia Tech YG Group leaders, including Eugene Kim (co-president) and Bokyung Kang (co-president).
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan YG Group is recognized for the hard work they put into hosting successful events this year and on expanding their outreach to unify the Korean American community on campus. They held a variety of social and professional events, such as the Resume Workshop, Board Game Night, Family Group Night, and a Spring Formal. KSEA Family Groups were also launched in the 2021-22 academic year and have been a success in recruiting new members across all majors. University of Michigan YG Group also collaborated with other Korean student organizations – Korea Leadership Group (KLG) and Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) for events such as the Spring Formal in April. They have been consistently active this year by holding at least 2 events each month to increase their presence on campus and reach a wider student population.
Special recognition goes out to the University of Michigan YG Group leaders, including Angie Jung (president), Joshua Hyun, Isabella Yoon, and Jaewon Kwon.
University of Southern California
University of Southern California continues its legacy of being one of the top YG Groups across multiple years. This year, USC KSEA hosted several events that ranged from AI-based start-up showcase events, CS and pre-med panels, high school outreach like “Appsolutely Admitted” to help high school students get a second look at their application, and led College Expo, a cumulative effort of multiple YG groups to showcase their school/major to high school students, finding success in developing their career paths, and networking with professionals.
Special recognition goes out to the USC KSEA YG Group leaders, including Harry Park (co-president) and Younggyun Kim (co-president), Jae Cho, Sangwon Cha, and Maddy Lee.
University of Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin YG Group continues to hold interesting events, both social and academic, and we would like to recognize their efforts. This year, the group brought 5 members to Ygnite and have been continuing to show interest in being more involved with KSEA YG National Board, large KSEA conferences, etc. They have participated in MWRC in Chicago, and have hosted many useful job recruiting events and resources for their members. Their continued efforts to engage their members have brought them to where they are today.
Special recognition goes out to the University of Wisconsin YG Group officers, including Tae Kyung Kim (president), Min Kyung Chae, M Hong, and Jaeseong Lee.
Reported by
Clara Kim, KSEA YG Committee
KSEA e-Letters 