Koreans Learning God’s Word at Holy Cross Lutheran School

The 2013-14 school year is already underway at Holy Cross Lutheran School on Milwaukee Street in Madison, Wisconsin. When the doors opened on August 21, teachers and students were excited to welcome some very special guests—five students from South Korea.
These students came to the United States through two different programs. Albert, 4th grade, is a student through Privileged Schools of America (PSA), a Madison-based organization founded in June 2012. According to the operations manager, Skyler Vadner, PSA gives international students an opportunity to see American culture, expand their English skills, and broaden their horizons by experiencing a variety of American activities. Children in this program are housed as a group in a home run by PSA in Madison.
The other four students, Jae-Won, 1st grade; Seo-Jin, 2nd grade; Teddy, 3rd grade; and Daniel, 3rd grade, are living in Madison with a family of Korean descent—the David Jung family of Cottage Grove. David, his wife, Katie, and their four sons are Christians, and they spent a year living in South Korea and using the English language as a tool in ministering to children of low-income families. When they returned to America, they decided to host Korean students in their home so they could learn English and learn about Christianity while experiencing a taste of American childhood.
These five students are not the first foreign students that Holy Cross has had the privilege to educate. Last winter, PSA enrolled four of their very first Korean students at Holy Cross; the school also hosted students from South Korea in 2007 and a group from the Czech Republic in 2004. Holy Cross Principal Tim Schubkegel said, “We feel that hosting students from other countries is a great opportunity to open our students’ eyes to a culture from another part of the world. It lets them experience firsthand that children from other nations with different backgrounds have as many similarities, abilities, and aspirations as they do.”
Even though there are many similarities between American and Korean children, David Jung said the approach to educating children can be markedly different. “In Korea, everything revolves around studying,” he said. “They have their fun, but not in the same way we do here in America. There is a lot of competition and pressure.”
Jung and Vadner hope that the interactions the students have with their new classmates can help them experience how life and learning can be fun. “As a new company focused on education, it was very important who PSA partnered with,” said Vadner. “When we met Principal Schubkegel and the teachers, we heard their excitement for learning and teaching students from different cultures. We knew our students would receive a great education as well as opportunities to participate in sports and other awesome events I don’t believe we would get at a bigger school.”
Last year, a 7th grader from Holy Cross, Luke DePrey of Sun Prairie, became good friends with Colin, a Korean student through PSA. Luke’s mother, Beth, said he would come home from school almost every day with stories about Colin. “He also started taking an interest in the Korean language and enjoyed getting help from Colin with specific words and phrases,” she said. “I never thought that he would be interested in learning Korean, so as parents this was fun to watch.” The DePrey family also hosted Colin and another PSA student at their home for a spaghetti dinner and later went to the PSA dorm house for an authentic Korean dinner.
“Having a foreign exchange student was really fun,” said Luke. “He became good friends with most of the class, and some of my classmates and I still keep in touch with him through Skype.”
Albert will be at Holy Cross through the beginning of October, and the other four will stay through the middle of September. Both programs, however, plan to have more students come to Madison later in the school year and enroll at Holy Cross. “We want to provide the best possible environment for these children,” said Jung. “They and their parents are so hungry for the English language—if they learn it in a Christian environment, all the better!”
Vadner agrees: “The principles that are the backbone of a Holy Cross education are very important to us,” he said. “We see them through the character of students and families that we’ve come into contact with. It’s been an awesome experience working with this school.”
Bernt Tweit is co-pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.