ON THE MESA
Mark Metherell '87 Memorial Service Challenge This year’s Mark Metherell '87 Memorial Service Challenge Award recipients were greatly impacted due to COVID-19, but all three adapted and overcame obstacles to finish the projects and benefit multiple communities across the world. The grant, named in honor after Mark Metherell '87, who passed away tragically in Iraq in 2009, is awarded every year to students with volunteerism, the potential to benefit others, vision, and sustainability as the primary criteria for selection. This year’s recipients were Jinny Chung '22, Madeline Vanica '21, and Dana Huston Chen '20.
Jinny Chung '22
A breath of fresh air in Korean prisons Jinny Chung '22 first learned about family visiting rooms in Korean prisons during a recent trip home over break. After a lunch meeting with a close family friend, Jinny came to learn about the lack of resources and funding for these visiting rooms, which are vital for fostering a connection between incarcerated parents and their children. Not long after this meeting, and by a stroke of luck, Jinny became aware of the Mark Metherell Service Challenge, and an idea was born. Eager to assist in any way possible, Jinny contacted Child Welfare Practice SEUM, a non-profit organization established to advocate for the rights of children of the incarcerated, and its executive director Ms. Kyung-Rim Lee. SEUM was the driving force behind creating family visiting rooms,
which did not exist in Asia before 2017, and Jinny arranged a sit-down with Ms. Lee to discuss ways she could help. “When I met Ms. Lee, she explained that SEUM depended wholly on private donations and that the rooms were rather bare and could use books, games, and toys to make it more kid and familyfriendly,” Jinny said. Using the Mark Metherell grant, Jinny was able to supply the visiting rooms with the much-needed toys and games and an air purifier to improve the room conditions. She also organized a walkathon to fundraise for SEUM, but the arrival of COVID-19 resulted in a change of plans. However, it did not hold her back from raising money and awareness by other means, and she has plans to volunteer for SEUM in the future.
“ While many will remember 2020 as the year the world was struck by a global pandemic, for me, it will also be the year that I finally grew up and, for the first time in my life, stepped outside of the bubble which had insulated me until now. The Mark Metherell Service Challenge Award at Cate touched so many lives, and the funds will continue to influence families for a very long time. I will never forget how unique and special this experience was.”
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CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2021