Esther Park, piano professor, traveled over the break to perform and educate students at Peniel High School of the Arts, Busan, South Korea, about the ETSU music department.
Park is very passionate about piano and she has been teaching in the department since 2014. She is originally from South Korea and came to the United States when she was only nine years old.
Park has been traveling to South Korea for multiple years and she enjoys sharing information about East Tennessee and what being a student at ETSU has to offer.
The pandemic influenced Parks’ travel plans, since she was not able to go in 2020. The last time she had visited was in 2019.
“Until the pandemic, I was basically going regularly to my trips,” Park said. “Due to my recurring trips, we have a student from South Korea who is a senior now, I am hoping to continue this further.”
There were still bumps in the road for Park, since she was hoping to visit more schools while she was there. Peniel Arts was the only school open after the Christmas holiday.
“I was planning on visiting multiple schools around the area,” Park said. “With the new Omicron variant, even though I am fully vaccinated, I had to quarantine for 10 days. It knocked out all of the appointments I had.”
She is delighted that more students from other countries recognize all ETSU has to offer.
“I am happy that many international students are discovering ETSU, it is very beautiful where we are located in Johnson City,” Park said.
Another factor drawing international students in is simply the atmosphere ETSU creates.
“Many international students wanting to come to the United States look at the big city life, but in this region everyone is so much more patient and willing to help when it involves the language barrier,” Park said.
She teaches many more nationalities than South Korea, with students from Europe and other regions of Asia.
“ETSU has great potential to attract many prospective new students,” Park said. “I have majority of international students ranging from Taiwan, China, Poland, and Tunisia.”
Park plans to return to South Korea annually as many years before to recruit prospective students.
