On Friday January 15th, five Aurora area high school students met virtually with five high school students in Seongnam, South Korea. Part of the Aurora Sister Cities International’s Global Youth Leader Program, this was the first of four virtual exchanges scheduled with Aurora’s sister city. Students chatted and engaged in topics that help them learn more about each other and how life has been since the COVID-19 pandemic. College, career aspirations, family and the shared dream to travel are topics frequently discussed and the group shares pictures from their phones on a regular basis. Though the high schoolers will only meet four times, group chats on KakaoTalk (a Korean chat app) have already begun so that the friendships being formed now can continue to grow.
This is ASCI’s second virtual exchange with Seongnam Youth Foundation. Last fall, six Colorado university students met with 6 Korean students to discuss life, college, career and the November 2020 elections. Seongnam and Aurora will host another virtual college student exchange in May 2021. If you are a Colorado university student and would like to participate, please email Jana Clark at jbclark@auroragov.org.