Boomerang Kids

The summer school program not only uses ICS teachers, but also makes generous use of a lot of college-aged alumni who are back in town for the summer. They serve as teacher assistants, hallway monitors, gophers, and a few of the more experienced ones actually teach a class.

It was fun chatting with them before and after school. It's pretty standard for these alumni to go to school in North America or Great Britain. Toronto and Vancouver are particularly populare destinations. Because we are a Christian school, a lot of alumni end up in evangelical colleges like Wheaton or Taylor. During summer school, the head of the hall monitors, Y.K. regularly wore Calvin College basketball shorts that his buddy brought back for him.

Having all those college-age kids around added an extra dose of energy to the whole summer school atmosphere. It meant that our program was one part school, one part vacation Bible school, and one part summer camp.

Y.K. and his family are originally from South Korea. He just graduated from ICS and was his senior class president. He was also the starting pointguard on the school's boys basketball team.

When I asked him where he was going to school in the fall, I was a little taken aback when he told me he wasn't going to university.

You aren't going to college?

No, I am going back to Korea to do two years military service.

Every South Korean male, I found out, must give two years of military service once he turns eighteen.

You can be exempted from service if by your eighteenth birthday, you have lived out of Korea for a total of twelve years.

When Y.K. turns eighteen next month, he will have have lived out of South Korea for eleven years and five months.

So close.

Hopefully, they give him the summers off to come back and work in the ICS summer program.

-Jack