Find out what's going on around campus at: |
April 12: Celebration of Scholarships |
Connie
Chung '69, co-chair of the Great Expectations scholarships campaign and award-winning
journalist, will be the guest speaker at the 10th Annual Celebration of Scholarships,
which links donors with their scholarship recipients. Call 301.405.6826 for details. |
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A Niche for GivingGiving Is Good Business
"These days, everybody think of themselves first, and they think of other people later. I believe we should give to the community," says Korean immigrant Hyunil Shin. He and his family have deep roots in College Park. For more than 30 years, the Shin family has owned General Auto Body Shop on Route 1. But six years ago marked a turning point in Hyunil Shin's life. His older brother retired and gave Shin control of the business. Also during this time, he remembered reading about budget cuts at the University of Maryland and how they might affect some academic programs including Korean language courses. Right away, Shin remembered something from childhood. "My father died when I was three and my mother died when I was about eight. I grew up under the care of my older brother and sister with no money," he says. Shin dropped out of high school and worked to help his family. College was out of the question. "So I promised myself if I made money when I was older, I would support whomever needs money more than me," says Shin. Remembering his promise as a teenager, he started with a $2,000 gift each semester to the university's Korean Language Scholarship Fund. "I thought maybe if students got scholarships, then more students would take the classes. So I decided to increase the amount of money little by little," he recalls. Last year, Shin gave nearly $10,000 to the scholarship fund and the Korean Heritage Fund. But there was an additional interest in his university neighbors—planning for his children's education. Although his older son initially enrolled at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, he later transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park, and he is now a junior majoring in engineering. Shin has a younger son who is currently a junior in high school, and college plans are in the works for him as well. Shin is happy that he and his wife can afford to send their children to college. "Once I took over the business, I started to donate money and the business began making even more money than before," says Shin. He thought back when he and his siblings had very little money and had to work long hours to make ends meet. As a teenager, he complained to his father as he looked towards heaven, "why didn't you leave any money for us?" But he says he is grateful that he has his father's craftsman skills. When he was about 8 years old, Shin recalls a time when his mother purchased an electric iron and he wanted to know how it worked. Always the curious child, "I opened it and my mother was pretty angry. It took me two weeks to put it back together," says Shin. Today, Shin is very optimistic about his business and about life generally. "I've learned to appreciate the small things," he says, "because it means life is getting better." Looking for a cool giving opportunity? Link your dreams to the future of Maryland students and watch them grow. Do you dream of being in the company of great musicians? With a gift of only $1,500 your name (or that of a loved one) can be prominently placed on a seat in the Dekelboum Concert Hall of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which regularly welcomes internationally acclaimed artists like Branford Marsalis, Marilyn Horn, Philip Glass, and a wide range of orchestral, choral, jazz and world music student ensembles. Your gift will help the center to remain a vibrant cultural home for artists, students and the community. Shakespeare anyone? With an interest in helping today's students develop a deep appreciation of "The Bard," a $35,000 gift can enable the university to offer The Shakespeare Collection (online). This is quite simply the most comprehensive and authoritative online resource offering general and scholarly reference, criticisms, full-text annotated works and much more. Budding broadcast journalists need the tools of the trade. A small gift of $1,000 can have a big impact by placing a high-quality camcorder in the two laboratory news bureaus of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, or $5,000 can outfit 10 students hitting the streets to capture the news of the day. In the electronic age, e-books are becoming a must. Students made three times more virtual visits to the University Libraries last year than they made physical trips, tapping a range of digital resources—from full text journals and books, to streamed video and audio, to digital images. You can help the Libraries keep that competitive edge with a gift of only $1,000 to add 10 academic e-books to their collections. To learn more about how you can make a difference by providing support for these and other university programs, contact Ken Ashworth, Executive Director of Development and Campaign Director, at kashwort@umd.edu or 301.405.4928.  | ||||
