1. Hello, first of all, please introduce yourself.

Hello. I am Hwang Hee-jin, a sophomore in the Department of Global Management at Sungkyunkwan University. I am graduating with a happy heart after receiving a very meaningful award that is like a beautiful ending to my undergraduate life.

2. I heard that you won the Social Sharing Award at the Winter 2025 Commencement Ceremony. Please give us a brief acceptance speech.
I think it was because I continued to participate in educational sharing activities within the community, such as Samsung Dream Class, while attending school, starting with my mentorship as a Business Statistics subject in the Department of Global Management in the first semester of my second year that I won the Social Sharing Award. I think the reason I was able to do that was because I had so many mentors in my life. I would like to express my gratitude to all the people around me who have been my mentors, including my parents, teachers, seniors and juniors, and friends.

3. Is there a moment that stands out the most during your studies?

I participated in many department programs of the Department of Global Management during my studies, but the first program I participated in was Global Futurizer, which I remember fondly. It was a project where we teamed up with students from Mondragon University in Spain to come up with a business strategy for a domestic startup. At the time, I was an inexperienced team leader who had never done a corporate-related project before, so I struggled a lot. To my great surprise, on the final presentation day, our team won first place, and I was praised directly by the CEO of Breezm, the startup our team was in charge of. It was a significant moment for me personally, because at the time, I was struggling to decide on my career path, but I realized that I was a person who liked what I was good at. After that, I tried my best to do activities that involved ‘business strategy’, such as competitions, the S-ONE business association, and an internship at a consulting firm, and I was able to have a fulfilling college life without regrets.

Also, I was proud when I achieved good results in the I-CORE project, which is the representative curriculum of the Department of Global Management. At that time, we were given the task of analyzing the management status of CJ CheilJedang from four perspectives of strategy, finance, marketing, and production management and deriving a management strategy based on that. I was mainly in charge of the strategy in the team. It was not easy to analyze the strategy of a large company with three business divisions and suggest future strategies, but it was very interesting, and in the process, I felt that strategy requires in-depth analysis from various angles. I have done many projects, but projects like I-CORE, which allows you to think about large company strategies from a company-wide perspective, are really rare, and when I finally heard the news that I had won first place out of about 20 teams at the end of the semester, I felt a sense of accomplishment as a writer.

4. If there is any activity on or off campus that you remember the most, please tell us about it.

This is an exchange semester at Queensland University of Technology in Australia. I was worried about whether or not to go on an exchange program until my third year, but no matter how much I thought about it, I thought I would regret it if I didn’t go, so I took an extra semester and went to Australia in the second semester of my fourth year. The reason why my exchange program is the most memorable is because it was the time when I had the least amount of worries and could only focus on the present. It’s really hard to have that kind of time in life. Before my exchange semester, I was busy with assignments, exams, conferences, part-time jobs, and internships, and after I came back, I was busy preparing for a job. However, during my exchange semester, I put all my worries about Korea aside and just focused on each day. I thought about how I could make new friends there, and the experience of going to uncommon travel destinations that only locals know about gave me new energy and stimulation when I was exhausted.

5. What are your future career paths and goals?
I don't know much because I tend to do whatever I want to do at the time rather than setting specific career goals. However, for now, I want to adapt well to my current job and study more about data science, which I majored in.

6. Lastly, if you have any stories to share with your fellow business school students, please share them.

The circumstances given to each student may be different, but the saying that college is the time when you can use your time most freely resonates with me even more now that I am a working adult. I think it would be good for you to invest your precious time in exploring yourself and developing a rich sensibility. Above all, if there is something you want to do, just do it. I have tried and given up on many things, but whether you continue or stop, there are lessons to be learned, and it is clear that there are unexpected benefits. I think the important thing is to have an unwavering spirit. Thank you :)