“Ewha should always be fragrant with our spirit.”
“We named our club Scent of Ewha because we wanted to emphasize that people from Ewha should always be fragrant with our intelligence and serving spirit,” said Yoo Sung-sook (’61, Elementary Education) who currently teaches children from multicultural backgrounds in Hwasun-gun, South Jeolla Province. “I called day and night to contact all the people who had to drop out of Ewha because of their early marriage. I hoped that we could study and be friends forever sharing our special experiences.”
Ever since the club was established, about 40 people meet regularly once a month to share their joys and problems of a belated campus life. They also meet each other during breaks in between classes, to have lunch or to hang out. But their meetings are not just about keeping in contact with one another.
“One Christmas, we had dinner together and raised funds to give scholarship for Ewha students,” Yoo said.
Members also help each other in academics.
“Since we had difficulty in taking English courses, some of us went to English cram school together,” Yoo said.
Another thing that connects the member together is their well-earned degrees. Park Yoon-ja (’62, Psychology), who continued to study at the Ewha Graduate School for a master’s degree in International Studies and Social Welfare Studies, did not sleep for a week to write her thesis.
“I drank too much coffee, which made me suffer from severe heart disease after that,” Park said.
Kim Un-hee (’58, Painting) also continues to follow her dream. The members of Scent of Ewha feel proud of themselves and connected to each other for getting their bachelor’s degree at Ewha after many years.
“We feel we are more ahead of people than those who graduated university in the past. We competed with young students and managed to graduate after getting the newest education of the 21st century,” Kim said. Kim is a renowned artist who recently held her own exhibition in Insadong.
Even after graduation, the scent still lingers.
“Due to the busy schedule of our members and different locations, we cannot meet as often as did before. But we hope to give what we learned from Ewha back to Ewha and to society by trying our best in our fields,” Kim said.