By Ji-Son Choi

Pounding drums echo from the entrance of the ballroom. Delighted cheering can be heard, followed by more drumming. Students, all in formal business attire, speedily walk about the space inside as well as outside the ballroom, passing out programs for the day’s events and answering questions rapidly. Students go to and fro from the entrance of the ballroom, bumping accidentally into other students who, too, want to see what all the excitement is about.

The energy is uncontainable. In this huge ballroom, there are hundreds of young college students, among some who have traveled across the country to engage in this national event that would allow these individuals to all come together for a common goal, an increased awareness of their responsibility to continue the legacy of their own Korean heritage as well as representing the views of their Korean communities here in the U.S. to the American public.

In the chaotic mass of students, order is being sustained by the KASCON Organizing Committees who are all students of UCLA. Jennifer Chung, the executive director, smiles warmly while she greets and assists students, and simultaneously, is able to flag down other committee members to make sure things are running smoothly.

The committee members have been hard at work to give the participants of KASCON a rewarding experience. Jennifer sheepishly grins while she expresses her pride in the commitment of the committee members, "Most of us haven’t had much sleep in the past weeks. We are really proud of this conference. During the Korean drum ensemble, a lot of us were tearing up because it was so rewarding to see our efforts manifesting before us." Amidst the traditional Korean drumming, the admiring looks on the faces of the students as they look on at the performance are a clear indication of the already-successful outcome of this important conference.

UCLA hosted the 15th annual Korean American Student Conference, better known as KASCON.

The conference itself began on Thursday, March 29 and ended on Sunday, April 1. The highlight of the conference was the career fair and exhibition on Saturday, March 30. With a theme of the conference being "Coming to Consciousness: An Endeavor Toward Progress," the Korean American Exhibition hosted many efforts toward awareness for the needs of the Korean community.

Among the many participants who set up tables in the ballroom, a booth that drew a lot of attention was the Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) organization, with many students willingly filling out forms and drawing two tablespoons of their blood for tissue typing. Other community organizations such as the Korean American Coalition, Korean Health Education - Info and Referral Center, Asian Pacific Islander Vote, Korean Youth Community Center, and the Gang Awareness Program were also present. These organizations were able to pass along valuable information to the students so that they may proactively take part in the betterment of the community. Students interacted with peers who were representing different student organizations from across the U.S. and overseas, such as the University of Colorado-Boulder Korean Student Association and Chongdae, a Southern California Korean Student Association in the U.S. An organization from the Yonsei University in Korea was also present. Furthermore, there was a great deal of interaction among people of seniority with the students. They were able to give students a knowledgeable look into different organizations, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The Career Workshops began at the conclusion of the Korean American Exhibition. Students were given an opportunity to select from a list of fields that interested them and were encouraged to attend workshops regarding these professions.

The workshops consisted of fields in business/internet start-up, education/administration, entertainment, financial consulting/investment banking, graphic design, law, marketing/advertising, media/journalism, medicine, and public servant/CIA &FBI. The speakers for each workshop were successful Korean professionals who gave a lot of insight into each field. In the Entertainment workshop, John Cho, a well-known Korean-American actor who has appeared in the films "Yellow" and "American Pie", and Patrick Choi, a veteran in the field of film buying, financing, and producing, gave thoughtful advice to aspiring actors, producers, score writers, and script writers.

The students heard about the obstacles they had to tackle since most of these talented students were struggling to break into their careers in show business.

Both speakers talked about how their parents disagreed with their choice to focus on this career.

John also exclaimed how his biggest challenges as an actor were all "internal", whereas Patrick spoke on the "headaches" of making a movie. At the end of the workshop, they took some time to sign autographs and take pictures with their avid fans.

In the media/journalism workshop, there were flocks of students who eagerly awaited the talks that were to be given by Philip W. Chung, a journalist who is the editor of Yolk magazine, and Lee Ann Kim, an anchor for San Diego KGTV - Channel 10. Lee Ann Kim had already hosted a discussion seminar about the pressures of Korean-American women the day before the career workshops.

In reflection of both journalists’ knowledgeability, enthusiastic students kept stopping the career workshop guides to ask for directions to the media/journalism workshop. In the marketing/advertisement workshop, Kenny Ahn, a director of Corporate Operations at URI, spoke on behalf of the marketing and advertisement industry. His company, URI, is an advertising agency that also serves as a global communications company. His intimate and humorous speaking manner engaged the students; he would throw around a piece of chalk to anyone he felt should answer a question he asked to the group. One clever tactic he used in his talk was one of which the names of objects were named and a direct association had to be made, such as "Nike" for the "Nike ‘swoosh’ logo". When the students replied, "BMW Z8", after Kenny asked aloud, "James Bond", he cracked a smile and said, "Now, that’s good advertising". He pored over about how people needed to network because it really is about "whom you know", and that CEOs were "hungry" for people who wanted to work hard and change things for the better in their companies. Needless to say, Kenny’s marketing tactics completely won over the students, and had many students seriously considering a career in the field of marketing and advertising by the end of his workshop.

KASCON’s career fair seemed to be successful having accomplished the objective of students becoming more aware, thus, more conscious of a need for progress for Koreans in the U.S. The power of effective organizations combined with smart and capable professionals inspiring a student for even one day could make all the difference in the world for "an endeavor toward progress" in the Korean community.