Thirty-five ROTC cadets from South Korea have been scattered across campus since Jan. 31 for a three-week leadership program, learning Texas A&M traditions and culture and spending time with the Corps of Cadets.
Mike Dulke, director of Corps scholarship programs, was given the task of building the program. Dulke said the purpose of the program is to provide a high-impact opportunity for the Korean cadets to develop their leadership skills and for the Korean cadets and their A&M counterparts to further theirs understandings of their respective cultures.
“We have 32 host cadets from the Corps who, since [the Korean cadets] arrival, have also been showing them around campus and the community,” Dulke said. “The Korean cadets attend formations with these host cadets and have even had the opportunity to attend some of their academic classes.”
Dulke said plans for the program have been in the works for almost a year, when the Corps was contacted by the Korean ROTC Association and asked to develop the program between the ROTC groups.
Corps Commandant Brig. Gen. Joe Ramirez said this program is part of the Corps’ global initiative program. The Corps has several options abroad for cadets including excursions to Turkey, Chile and India.
“We’ve been doing this since I got here, for the last three years,” Ramirez said. “And of course we have this exchange program with Helmut Schmidt University in Germany, and we’re hoping to expand that because in today’s global economy, in this global market that we live in today, it’s important that we expose our cadets to global perspectives and other ways of seeing the world. Who knows, in the future, one of our cadets may be working hand in hand with one of these Korean cadets in either a business venture or some type of military exercise or some type of political venture in the future, so it’s important that we expose them to it now.”
During their three weeks on campus, the Korean cadets stay in the Quad and participate in daily activities with the Corps, including physical training, formations, ROTC classes and leadership laboratories. They will be taken on field trips to the Houston Space Center, Fort Hood and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi.
Dulke said the Korean Cadets would also get to participate in active leadership training.
“The cadets will also get some hands-on leadership training when they visit the A&M Challenge Course run by the Department of Kinesiology,” Dulke said. “They will also visit the Bush School of Government and get a tour of the Bush Library and Museum.”
In addition to historical and informational activities, Keltin Jordan, Corps global initiatives and diversity officer, said the Korean cadets, accompanied by their host cadets, will attend three basketball games and two baseball games.
“Next week we are having a Korean tailgate event before the baseball game,” Jordan. “We’ll have food and a mini yell practice with the yell leaders at Spence Park for them.”
Korean Cadet Do Whui Nam, English and translation major in South Korea, said her experience with the Corps thus far has been different from the way of life in South Korea, but she has grown fond of the traditions.
“Back home, we don’t say hello to strangers,” Whui Nam said. “But here, everybody is always saying, ‘Howdy,’ to everyone they know. It’s refreshing.”
Whui Nam said she enjoyed the “cheerleading” at the basketball game against Mississippi State on Wednesday.
“This was a new experience because cheerleading and the culture of cheer are very different,” Whui Nam said. “Everyone was dancing and yelling. It was so interesting.”
Jordan said the Korean cadets are scheduled to return to South Korea on Feb. 23, and will be sent off with a farewell dinner and gifts.
While Whui Nam said she misses her parents and friends back home, she said she cherishes her experience at Texas A&M and her time with her host cadet, Cristina Palomino, senior university studies major. Whui Nam said Palomino has been an incredible friend.
“She is an exemplary student, cadet and friend,” Whui Nam said. “I created a Facebook page to keep in touch with her when I go home. She has become very special to me. All of them have.”
Dulke said although this is only the first year of the program, he doesn’t expect it to be the last.
“This has given both sets of cadets the opportunity to learn each other’s culture,” Dulke said. “It is hoped that the program will grow and become better.”