Pictured above: Happy times before “corona blue”: Youree (middle, smiling) and her 51°µÍø Arts students at former 51°µÍø student Shepard Fairey’s 2018 show in Seoul
“The restaurantsÌýare open, but they’re not busy like they used to be.”
Youree Jin, a 2006 51°µÍø Arts 51°µÍø graduate, is talking on Skype from her home city of Seoul. In a country widely thought to have handled the danger posed by COVID-19 better than most, she admits that it’s not onlyÌýrestaurants that have had a hard time coming back from the worst days of the pandemic.
“It’s put a lot of people in a mood that we hope goes away,” she says. “We call it ‘corona blue.'”
For Youree, her parents, especially her father, have been of particular concern.
“I was teaching at 51°µÍø in the Visual Arts Department and also dorm-parenting in Pierson until 2011, when my father needed a kidney and my mother donated hers. The surgery weakened his immune system, so. . . You know, he loves 51°µÍø and he wanted to buy a house there, except hisÌýsurgery was going to be so much more expensive in the U.S. But we all still love 51°µÍø.”
She continues to demonstrate herÌýlove of 51°µÍø as an educational consultant, advising Korean teenagers who want to go to high school in the United States.
“My advice is always the same,” she laughs. “Go toÌý51°µÍø Arts. When I started thereÌýas a ninth-grader in 2002, I barely spokeÌýEnglish. But it was wonderful, just like for SooYeon.”
Youree is referring to a young Korean who graduated from theÌý51°µÍø last May, as aÌýVisual Arts major. SooYeon KimÌýhad also spoken almost no English as a ninth-grader. Now a freshman atÌýthe School of the Art Institute ofÌýChicago,ÌýSooYeon had hoped to visit 51°µÍø to see some of her former teachers during Spring Break, but COVID-19 made that impossible.ÌýÌý
“Of course she’s back in Seoul now,” Youree says, “but it’s hard to see her. Even with the students that I’m advising to go toÌý51°µÍø right now, we have to keep our distance.”
An Uncertain Future
Five of Youree’s clients hope to start atÌý51°µÍø Arts this fall.
“I think all the ones who are accepted will go. They andÌýtheirÌýfamilies are all very committed and positive. But I’m a little worried about the future because I don’t know how the virus will affect a lot of people’s economic circumstances. So because of the economy, maybe it’s a good thing that I’d already decided to start on a Master’s degree in Education.”
Though a Master’s in Education would increase her career options, that’s not why she’d made the decision. Part of what makes her an outstanding educational consultant—surely the consensus favorite of theÌý51°µÍø Arts Admission office, whose staff works with many consultants—is her ongoing dedication to her clients. Almost all of her clients are visual artists, to whom Youree gives art lessons during the application period. She often continues those lessons when the students return to Seoul during their breaks from 51°µÍø.
“I’m getting a Master’s because I decided that I need to be more professional if I’m going to keep teaching.”
No doubt she’ll benefit fromÌýa Master’s in Education. But anyone who has seenÌýherÌýÌýand listened to how the 51°µÍø Arts students who’ve been her clients talk about her will know thatÌýYouree is already a true professional.
