Downloadable: English and Korean press statements
November 16, 2004 Contacts: Jane Chung, 323-937-3703
Press Statement Dae Joong Yoon 323-937-3718
For Immediate Release Kent Chaegu Lee, 773-506-9158
Yu Soung Mun, 718-460-5600
Gates Millennium Scholarship (GSM) Program Available for Korean American Community
[Los Angeles] The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and its affiliates the Korean Resource Center of Los Angeles, Korean American Resource & Cultural Center of Chicago, and YKASEC-Empowering the Korean American Community of New York, are pleased to announce the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program to the Korean American Community. As students gear up to enroll as freshmen in college in the coming Fall of 2005, NAKASEC and affiliates will work to ensure that promotion and services to Korean American students are met.The GMS Program was founded in 1999 and is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence and to provide an opportunity for thousands of outstanding students with significant financial need to reach their fullest potential.
EunSook Lee, Executive Director of NAKASEC stated, “As a member of the APIA Advisory Committee of the GMS Program, NAKASEC is excited to work with our affiliates in providing services and promote the program to our community. We have a series of activities lined up from now until the GMS application deadline and we are confident that our students and their parents will utilize the resources and take advantage of this great scholarship program.”
“Many academically gifted students are held back from furthering their education and reaching their career goals because of financial constraints,” said Kent Chaegu Lee, Executive Director of KRCC. “We hope that such exceptional students will be able to attend college, earn their degree, and go on to make an impact in their professions and their communities.”
Yu Soung Mun, Executive Director of YKASEC said, “A report from the Federal Advisory Committee on Financial Assistance stated that, in this decade, 4.4 million Americans will not be able to attend four-year colleges or universities because of financial limitations.” Unfortunately, this is at a time when jobs requiring a college degree are the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy.
Dae Joong Yoon, Executive Director of KRC stated, “Last year, 25 Korean American students received financial assistance from GMS. We hope to expand this number so that more eligible, gifted, low income, minority students could receive aid to pursue and finish their higher education.”
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