The misconception that Korean Students Association in U.C.Berkeley encounters is one of purely social club where students are viewed as the tough, partying type.
"That reputation has negative connotations", says K.S.A.Vice President Jayon Kim, a senior at U.C. Berkeley.
A member since freshman year, Jayon Kim says he wants to project the positive aspects of the club. "Older students took care of you, showed you around campus, bought you dinner, gave you advice. They were like hyungs [older brothers] and nunas [older sisters]" says Kim.
The new KSA staff at U.C. Berkeley is aiming to clarify their goals to the Berkeley campus and community as a community-based organization that emphasizes strength in cultural roots and familial relationships amongst the members.
"The organizations is evolving and has evolved since it first began" says Henry Kim, the KSA President. In the late 1960’s Korean Students Association began as a club for first generation Koreans/International students to unite and share common cultural heritage such as language and food.
Slowly, K.S.A. at Berkeley evolved to a 1.5 and 2nd generation group where membership grew to approximately 50-60 people during the Spring 2000 semester. Although membership was not hefty, with 25 members joining within the last two years, the new staff is implementing strategies to boost both membership and image.
The new K.S.A. at U.C. Berkeley focuses on the desire to celebrate their roots as Korean-Americans. Publicist and Cal sophomore Sarah Hwang says, "We share the same heritage, commonality between us that ranges from anything we eat, to our parents. We have this understanding. There are innate bonds between our culture."
With a culture rich in history and deeply rooted in community, K.S.A.’s mission is to integrate the positive aspects of their culture to build a strong bond between members and community by reversing the trend toward radical individualism and disenchantment for the Korean community and specifically to change the image of K.S.A. as a purely social club.
According to Jayon Kim, "The new generation of Korean-Americans [on campus] are not as in-tuned to old Korean ways such as respect for older people. They are not in touch, independent, and not needing a Korean unit. They are on their own. We [K.S.A.] have a greater responsibility to do something in our career at Berkeley."
K.S.A. President Henry Kim says, "Korean-Americans have a tendency to lose their culture such as the ability to speak the language. We hope that K.S.A. will be an organization that helps its members realize what it means to share the same cultural background. The whole ‘hyung’ ‘dong-seng’ thing is diminishing. We’re trying to bring that back."
K.S.A. believes that image-changing begins internally within the organization and must extend toward the greater community. Because Koreans comprise approximately 10-12% of the U.C. Berkeley campus, the lack of unity makes a significant difference in the visibility of the organization on campus. Henry Kim says "Filipino, Latin-American, and African-Americans are a tight group. We hope to unify our organization just as well."
"We want to project the notion that we want them, not they want us. We want all Koreans involved." Within the Berkeley campus, "We are creating families. Each member of a family will have a staff leader. We want to be role models," says Hwang.
There will be competitions, evening sessions for academic questions, and other social activities such as ski trips. They also plan to set up tables during Calapolooza Welcome Week and orientation where freshman can glimpse their organization.
Henry Kim would like to see a greater bond between other local organizations such as P.K.I (Project Korean Involvement), C.K.S. (Community of Korean Studies) and K.C.E.E.B. (Korean Community of East Bay). There are also plans to create a K.S.A. alumni association where younger members can contact and network with graduate members who are established in their field of work.
He says, "Right now we have so many gifted and talented Koreans in and outside college. We should be working together and start our own corporations and exclusively use our association."
Although the majority of the K.S.A. members are transplants from the L.A., San Fernando Valley and South Bay areas, the potential for consolidating the Korean-American community is phenomenal.
One of the major outreaches for the year 2001 is called the Annual Korean Culture Show. It will be held in lower Sproul in mid-April. Proceeds from the show will be used as scholarships for poetry and essay contests that will be given to high school and middle school students during the show. The show will include traditional Korean dance, music, and skits.
"The Culture present will show everything we’ve done throughout the year, everything about ourselves and the Korean culture. Everything we do has a purpose", says Hwang.
The upcoming Korean Culture Show will exhibit talent for an estimated 1,000 people. K.S.A. of Berkeley will try to organize students from Stanford University, UC Davis, San Francisco State University along with all younger and older generation ages to participate in the culmination of this grand event.

For more information, contact the website: www.cal-ksa.com.