Pukyong National University

PKNU students won top prize in the social contribution project contest held by Woori Future Foundation

- the team of Gong Na-Young and Lee Seong-Shin were awarded for an idea for a non-face-to-face IT internship for young caregivers

△ The 1st prize winners in the contest for social contribution projects held by the Woori Future Foundation. Gong Na-Young (left) and Lee Seong-Shin

Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) announced that Gong Na-Young (2nd-year student in social welfare) and Lee Seong-Shin (3rd year student in social welfare convergence) won the first prize at the 'contest for social contribution project' held by the Woori Future Foundation.

In this contest, they won the first prize by proposing a 'non-contact IT internship to improve life independence for young caregivers majoring in science and engineering in Seoul' (advisor Oh Young-Sam). The winning prize was 5 million won.

This contest, which aims to discover social contribution projects that support children and youth to lead the future of Korea, was conducted in a way to select one top award, one excellence award, and two teams for incentive awards through a document screening and an interview.

This grand prize-winning work by Pukyong National University students was recognized by the evaluation team as the best idea as it proposed a long-term support project for young caregivers who take care of their families and take responsibility for their livelihood to receive practical help in finding employment.

They analyzed that young caregivers are experiencing economic, social, and emotional problems, but lack systematic support, and suggested providing non-contact IT internships for successful self-reliance in students between the ages of 19 and 24 majoring in science and engineering.

The Woori future foundation and local governments, welfare institutions, hospitals and others collaborated to discover beneficiaries and specifically designed a plan to provide material and policy support. They suggested measures such as providing education in collaboration with non-contact IT educational institutions, providing peer helpers for emotional support, and job mentoring through IT-affiliated employees in Woori financial group.

Advisory professor Oh Young-Sam said, "With this contest as an opportunity, college students majoring in social welfare are expected to feel the reality of blind spots in our social welfare and the importance of support, and that their novel ideas will contribute to social contribution." <Pukyong Today>