Following the elections in November for the next student council, Emotion was elected as the 52nd General Student Council to represent the student body. With a turnout of 62.3 percent of voters, 96 percent of the students voted in favor for Emotion.


The student body introduced four main pledges: curriculum revision, tourist quota system, supporting programs for civil service exams, and reduction of chapel semesters. Emotion also plans on communicating with the school by developing a stronger consultative body.


Ewha Voice took this opportunity to meet with the elected president, Oh Hee-ah, a junior majoring in Chemistry & Nanoscience, and vice president, Kim Hyo-min, a sophomore in Korean Language Education. The interview started with the representatives expressing their gratitude to the students.


“First of all, we would like to thank all Ewha students for believing in us and voting in favor of Emotion to run student council next year,” Oh said. “Continuing this year’s great outcomes, we aim to tackle the unsolved issues such as the reduction of mandatory chapel semesters and work to become a student council everyone can sympathize with.”


When asked about the most memorable moment during their campaign, Kim answered that it was in-class promotions. According to her, seeing the attentive students and receiving applauds after speeches motivated them to work harder.


To put the pledges into action, Emotion emphasized building on the current consultative body. Along with strengthening the committee, they plan on revitalizing the FIG focus groups to personally meet students and hear their demands one-on-one.


“The pledges were all based on surveys that were conducted to hear what students found most problematic at school,” Oh said. “Acknowledging the students’ demands, we are planning on finding other ways to involve the students more in the student council’s programs.”


Oh wanted to pinpoint the efforts on the tourist quota system. Emotion strives to call for revision of the Welcome Center’s tour program, sending official letters to travel agencies, putting up more signs on the tourist quota system around campus, and spreading them through social media as well.


“Never-ending change, together with 15,000 students”

Newly elected General Student Council president Oh Hee-ah (Left) and vice president Kim Hyo-min (right).     Photo by Yun Sol.
Newly elected General Student Council president Oh Hee-ah (Left) and vice president Kim Hyo-min (right). Photo by Yun Sol.

“We realized that the main reason tourists visit our school is because it is widely promoted through hashtags on social media,” Kim added. “Likewise, we plan on sharing the students’ concerns through hashtags as well so that tourists can be aware of them before visiting.”


Emotion also introduced an upcoming idea on creating a new PR strategy for students.


“Although the student council has been running seven social media accounts, many students mentioned that it was hard to read the long text announcements that were posted on our channels,” Kim said. “Therefore, we are planning to open a YouTube account so that students can easily be informed through a short video.”


The representatives also spoke about the recent meeting held on Nov. 28 with President Kim Hei-sook. They commented that as this meeting had no guaranteed conclusion, they are looking forward to meet the president more often next year.


“It was disappointing to see that the president did not take this meeting seriously,” Oh said. “We really hope that she takes students’ demands more sincerely and work harder to compromise with us.”


To conclude, Kim added that Emotion hopes to become the student representatives where students can easily reach out regarding school matters. She believes that getting close to the students is the first step to take for change.


 “Like our motto, we would like to unite all students of Ewha and work together to build a better school,” Oh concluded. “Together with 15,000 students, we hope to make a never-ending change.”
 

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지