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Last January, the Student Society for Social Responsibility under the SNUSR held an event to share the activity performances from the preceding semester. The SNUSR is a platform responsible for social contribution on campus, which has been creating a global community based on social responsibility and expertise since its establishment in February 2013, focusing on the social values of inclusion and coexistence.
The Student Society for Social Responsibility selected “Bridge” as the main theme for the second semester of the 2023 school year to connect various members and expand
solidarity between communities. It formed a total of five teams for social contribution activities: “Piece of Cake,” “Pureutpureut,” “I Decided to Live a Nice Life (IDLNL),”
“Dodamdodam,” and “Colorfully.” The performance sharing session allowed each team to share their semester-long activities and results under the themes of interactions with the
elderly, maternal and child health for immigrant women, barrier-free environment for the visually impaired, and interactions with children of developmental disabilities and
their families.
The performance-sharing session began with the presentation of “Piece of Cake.” This team, whose name refers to something easily achieved, implying that anyone can cook easily,
demonstrated the process of producing universal cooking utensils for both disabled and non-disabled people. This team met several times with visually impaired people from the
Woori Dongjak Center for Independent Living to promote the need for product development by considering the inconveniences, risk factors, and improvement measures that arise
when cooking with existing utensils. Subsequently, they tested 3D printing prototypes and applied for utility model registration, finally creating three universal cooking
utensil designs, including a hook-shaped safety ladle. The presenter expressed their thoughts, wishing that “We hope to create a cooking environment where everyone can cook
safely and easily.” Piece of Cake held a baking class for visually impaired people, displayed desserts they made at a pop-up bakery on campus, and delivered donations collected
at the booth to the Woori Dongjak Center for Independent Living, thereby completing the external activities of this project.
Pureutpureut is a team formed to provide healing time by facilitating interaction among children with developmental disabilities, their non-disabled siblings, and their
families. We visited Seoul Botanic Park, Seoul Water Recycling Museum, and Metro Farm Sangdo Station to offer healing time using agricultural resources and spent time building
rapport with children with developmental disabilities by holding the campus tour and visiting the Boramae Safety Experience Center. They collaborated with the Seoul
Metropolitan Government Agricultural Technology Center to organize self-help meetings and healing agriculture as a means of preparing time with parents of children with
developmental disabilities and their non-disabled siblings. Next, they participated in the sports day of the Gwanak-gu Disabled Family Support Center to provide various
activities, such as operating a booth, and further produced a photo book containing interviews and interaction activities related to developmental disabilities. At this
performance-sharing session, they released the photo book and shared various experiences with the audience to mull over the meaning of social contribution.
IDLNL, which planned to add vitality to the lives of active elderly and promote their interactions with various generations, shared their experiences of producing and
displaying goods that can be consumed by all generations utilizing handwriting designs crafted by the elderly. Furthermore, they published a magazine containing the lives and
activities of active elderly to emphasize them as active and helpful beings.
The IDLNL team said, “We hope that the exchange of positive energies between the older and younger generations with an open attitude will result in narrowed psychological
distance between them, as well as generational integration through respect.” They further shared what they felt in the process of creating opportunities for intergenerational
interactions with residents, including the operation of an experience booth to celebrate the Month of Respect in October and the Day for the Elderly on October 2nd.
Another team was formed to identify difficulties faced by pregnant women with immigrant backgrounds and offer practical assistance. Dodamdodam shared their activities, such as
producing and distributing the White Paper on Living for Pregnant Women in Multicultural Families, an information booklet on prenatal and postnatal health in multiple
languages, and offering a course to facilitate the experience of Korean culture wishing for a safe birth, as well as the information on the nutrients pregnant women need to
consume for a healthy birth.
Colorfully, who lastly took the podium, presented the development process of the barrier-free makeup project for the visually impaired. To enhance understanding of the visually
impaired, they opened a booth to improve awareness of the visually impaired for non-disabled people to showcase a process of training the visually impaired to apply makeup with
no assistance from others and hold a session for participants to share what they felt during the process. Moreover, they shared the process of conducting a suitability test by
installing guidelines in a cosmetics store to facilitate the access of the visually impaired, ranging from purchase to use of makeup products. The presenter talked about what
they felt, “We have strived to improve accessibility for the visually impaired through several steps to apply a barrier-free environment. We need to empathize with the feelings
of the visually impaired who need to navigate the darkness and ultimately expand the environment with no boundaries.”
This sharing session allowed participants to share the meaning of social contribution and celebrate successful projects completed during the semester. The SNUSR plans to
realize the social value of student contribution activities, and implement and share more meaningful activities through new projects in 2024.
