Class Notes

The Banner always welcomes your Class Notes and submissions. To submit, please reply to our Wavelength emails or email notes to alumni@seoulforeign.org.

65 J. Bernard “Ben” H. van Lierop III: My wife, Chris, and I are retired and living in Hopkins, MN, USA. Our oldest son was born in Tokyo, and our two younger sons were born at home in Minnesota. My two older children are living in Japan with their families. Growing up in Korea, attending SFS, and then later living in Japan have been foundational experiences of my life. In retirement, I find joy in continuing to build bridges across the Pacific from the land of 10,000 lakes. 72 Karen DuBert: Hi class of �72. Back in 1988, Phil DuBert and I married, and we have been charitable volunteers overseas ever since—in subsaharan Africa. We worked 19 years in Moçambique, then a year in Zimbabwe with an AIDS orphan group, then six years in South Africa with township young people. Lost our visa last year and now are headed to Granada, Spain. Of course, a lot depends on how the pandemic plays out. Would love to hear about your lives and what you are doing. With our now-empty nest, we enjoy hiking and have walked St Cuthbert’s Way (Scotland) and Camino de Santiago (Portuguese route).

Karen DuBert ’72

Diana Peterson Walsh: : Last spring I hiked almost 500 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Damascus, Virginia, on the Appalachian Trail. I had planned to continue my trek north on the AT starting now, but COVID-19 has altered my plans. Instead, I am watercolor painting, reading, and playing the piano. I hope to resume my 2,200-mile hike when I can. It takes about 6 months to hike the trail through 14 states from Georgia to Maine.

76 Wendy(Pamela at SFS) Lee Williams: In 1974, I studied at SFS for a brief while. I got to meet some former friends of International School of the Sacred Heart like Veronica Lin, Judy Yeh and Mirang Kim. I heard about Maricita and Marissa Catibayan. I made new friends with Morton Maeltasaer, Donna Kim and Betty Lee and others. I still keep in touch with Veronica Lin who resides in New Zealand. I delightedly met up with her when she visited Korea a few months ago with members of her family. Stay healthy and well.

73 Martha Valasek “Marti” van Lierop: I attended SFS from 1961 to 1971 with a furlough there in 1966. My family lived outside of Wash. DC for my junior year. I graduated early from high school and attended Hope College for my freshman year. My older sister, Eleay van Lierop Warrington, was then a senior at Hope. Over the summer of 1973, I returned to Seoul, and discussed with my parents about transferring to Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL. I then graduated from Elmhurst with a BA in Speech Pathology. I worked in the Illinois public schools for 13 years. While a wife and a mother, I also began serving my community working at libraries, particularly in the summer. But eventually, I was hired at Elmhurst Public Library to work four days a week in the Kids Library. I happen to also work ten hours at the library where I currently live, Kirkland Library. When I retire from Elmhurst, I plan to continue serving my town by working at Kirkland Library. 74 Rob Miller: After forever in Pasadena, California, my brilliant wife and I moved to tiny Mosier, Oregon, where we grow apples and make and sell hard apple cider under the name Runcible Cider Co. I left SFS 49 years ago, but it is still vivid and influential in my life. I keep in touch with one member of my class, Tim Slover, and have seen a few others every so often. It is beautiful and spacious out here in the boondocks, and we would welcome anyone from SFS. 75 Gregory Siegelman: After 30+ years in the business world, I pivoted to the academic world. I am now in my third year of teaching marketing and supply chain courses at Western Kentucky University as an executive in residence. It is the best and toughest job I have everhad—I love it! I look back fondly on my days at SFS and still have my high school yearbooks. I know Facebook sometimes gets a bad rap, but I do enjoy sharing and seeing pictures from my days at SFS posted by other alums! Diana Peterson Walsh ’72

Wendy Lee Williams ’76 with the late Laddie Lee.

80 James Rhee let us know that Aero K, the airline he co-founded, has recently launched.

James Rhee ’80 launching Aero K.

82 Pauline Yun: At SFS, I chose guitar as my instrument for 7th grade music class, and it’s been my constant companion ever since. After many years as a visual artist, I now perform Beatles sets at Strawberry Fields, New York. This is my training ground for becoming a singer-songwriter interested in social change. I’m happy to follow the lineage of John Lennon, Joan Baez and many others.

90 KyungEn Kim: Having truly enjoyed writing (really bad editorials for the Spirit) and making things for my IBH Art portfolio at SFS, I went on to study sculpture/installation art at Wellesley and then RISD. I then thought architecture would let me make spaces with other people for lots of people and ended up marrying a fellow grad student. We now have an architectural practice here in Seoul and two teenage children at SFS. Both have been at SFS since pre-K and have yet to tell me they do not want to go to school today. I am particularly impressed by the reverse-aging. Mrs. Moon, my former English teacher, has coached both children through the most amazing acting experiences with better hair, style and stamina than any of us. Something in the water! 92 Shannon Autry: Hey everyone. I just wanted to say hi and reach out to anyone who is interested. I am living in Fort Worth, Texas, now and am always down for some good Korean food. Feel free to email. Ken Jennings: Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time, sent a video of greetings and encouragement to the SFS Academic Quiz Team.

95 Nathanael Turner: My profile photo is from the SFS Olympics. It was hot, I had just had the flu, and the 3-legged race hadn’t gone so well. That’s okay, because tetherball was coming next. :) Our red shirts made up the red part of the Olympic rings in the opening ceremony. I think that blonde kid sitting down traded me a few years earlier for his best G.I. Joe that I hadn’t managed to snag. Probably the 2nd Snake-Eyes. The guy on the right was Bryan Yum, who could draw comic book style like he’d been doing it for 40 years. The sycamore(?) trees above the bus garage smelled like cinnamon in the fall, and the gym teacher’s son Monte Majors (or was it Chris Petokey?) was the cool, older kid at school. It was 1987/1988. An epic year.

04/05 John Black and Stephanie (Small) Black ’05: Our 11th year at SFS marks the first year that our entire family “attends” school as Miles entered Pre-K2! Gibson loves having his brother just down the hall. Stephanie has shifted mostly to teaching IB DP Sports Exercise and Health Science while John continues in his role as Theatre Manager. Andrew Costello ’03 and his wife Mackenzie

Ken Jennings ’92, Jeopardy! GOAT

Juhie Suh: I currently live in Seoul, Korea, and started working as the Designer and Brand Curator at SFS Marketing in 2018 after working in the advertising, animation and graphic communication industries. My daughter Eileen Kim is also attending SFS as the class of �31! Come and visit us at SFS when you come to Seoul! 93/98 Larry Park �93 and Ron Chang �98 are regular visitors to SFS who came this day to catch up with some faculty.

Nathanael Turner ’95 during the SFS Olympics.

96/06 Brian Paik �96 and Yuri Shin �06 got married in September 2019 and are currently living in Vancouver.

03 Andrew Costello: I just wanted to check in with everybody given the insanity in the world these days. I am happily sequestered with my wife Mackenzie and puppy Sadie where we are taking the opportunity of not traveling to finally hang frames on our walls after living here for 3 years. I am continuing to work remotely as a Managing Director at Accenture where I lead the firm’s mobile product development for our telecommunications clients. I hope everybody else is safe and healthy and look forward to connecting once things cool down. Brian Paik ’96 and Yuri Shin ’06

Alexander Paik ’04: I have been based in Seoul for the last 10 years, running a PR and marketing agency specializing in tourism and hospitality. Our agency has even been doing some work with SFS, and it’s been wonderful reconnecting with the community and discovering even more about our school’s great legacy! I’m always happy to meet other alumni, so anyone living here or visiting, please do reach out! John Black ’04 and Stephanie Black ’05 with their two sons Gibson and Miles.

Alex Paik ’04

Paul Rader ’04: Hey Guys, It’s hard to believe we are 16 years past our graduation. I’ve been fortunate that the last 11 years I have been back in Korea, first at TCIS for 5 years and now at SFS for the past 6 years. My wife is also a teacher and has been working as a middle school teacher at

both schools. We have two sons James and Bram who are 8 and 6. We are expecting a third son in August. Being back working at our school has been a totally different experience from when we went to school here, but I can tell you guys that SFS is still an amazing place and continues to be the leading international school in Korea. The school is much bigger now with almost 500 students in the HS, a brand new, amazing HS building, so the vibe on campus is different and there is always a ton going on as far as student life and campus events. The thing I enjoy the most is working with our students and seeing them grow in their time at the school just like we all did. I hope that when you are back in Seoul, or if you are living in Seoul, you will come by the campus for a reunion or even just to come and get lunch or a coffee. If you can believe it, the new HS has its own cafe. I remember getting the little 300 won cups out of the 자판기 in the old HS lobby. Times have changed! We like to say around here, “Once a Crusader, Always a Crusader.” See you soon I hope!

Paul Rader ’04 and his wife Hannah with their two sons James and Bram.

05 Edward Hong: Favorite SFS Memory: Singing Rage Against the Machine’s “Know Your Enemy” in the 2001 SFS Talent Show with my band and utterly shocking everyone in the audience, especially the faculty.

08 Beatrice Shih is a clinical fellow in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Seoul National University Bundang.

14 On behalf of the Class of 2014, here’s an update compiled and written by Class Representative Joon Kim:

To the Class of 2014 - Here’s how we’re doing:

Elizabeth Sergeevna Mikhailova is in Japan but might move to Scotland or Norway in the future. She reports that she still loves to play games and sleep and that she is still the same old scary Russian. I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight her brief moment of YouTube stardom. She still keeps in touch with Eric, Annie, Leo, Jhoonil, and Chris.

Kathryn Hong, Justin Huang, Emma Sheldrick, Alex Yoon, Austin Lee, MJ Kwon, Paul Chung and Hans Lee are in Korea. Kathryn is currently a private flute tutor who picked up boxing and manga drawing a year ago. She reports that she still keeps in touch with Victoria Beck and Soomin Lee. Justin recently returned to Seoul after quitting his job in San Diego and is spending his time resting and helping out at his father’s pharmacy before starting school at New York University, College of Dentistry. He regrets not being able to make it to our recent class reunion, but he’s excited to see everyone at the next one. Emma is currently working at a production company in TV & film, and she’s doing all sorts of cool things—working on her photography and personal creative projects on the side. If anyone is in Seoul and wants to catch up or collaborate on creative projects, she’s waiting for you to hit her up! Austin is working in Korea and is currently preparing for graduate school, with an eye towards following an entrepreneurial path. MJ is temporarily in Korea and has recently finished her Master’s in Marketing, and finally Hans is serving in the Korean Air Force.

Benedict Printz is in Hong Kong, where he graduated in 2019 from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. He’s currently working as a software developer, and you can follow his cool runs on Strava. In a recent conversation with Benedict, we talked about what we would give to live one week of high school all over again, even if it meant suffering studying under our beloved Mrs. Abella. Meanwhile, Sangyeon Chae is hanging out down under in Sydney, Australia. He’s preparing for a Master’s of Professional Accounting degree at the University of Sydney.

Edward Hong ’05

Robert Lauler is an English Editor at Daily NK, a website specializing on North Korean affairs.

Heading west, Maciej Całka is in Warsaw, Poland, with a few months left of law school. He’s looking forward to working in intellectual property law, and he has not only continued his photography but has also found the time to co-found a creative agency on the side. You guessed it—he’s a self-proclaimed “wannabe lawyer and filmmaker.” Julia Aulbach is in Munich, Germany, where she’s living after finishing uni. She’s currently working in consulting and reports that she still keeps in touch with SFS people. Jeong A Choi is in Aarhus, Denmark, finishing up her Master’s in International Political Economy. She plans on studying issues related to climate and security in the future and reports that she has recently developed an interest in bouldering (which I wholeheartedly endorse—bouldering is the new cool millennial golf). Nahyun Kwon has been working in finance in London. She reports that while (sorry, whilst) she has been trying to sound more British recently—and even more posh—it seems like she has suffered from the curse that many other Asian international school grads suffered as well: the eventual, inevitable, and irreparable decline Americanization of her English.

Finally, Annie Riach is in Cardiff, South Wales, living a life that puts her in the running for the Coolest SFS Alumnus/Alumna award. She graduated university, worked on a few TV shows, and then created some brilliant short films, some of which won awards across the planet. She then got trapped working in a tile store to pay the bills but learned that she actually quite enjoys designing bathrooms and hopes to be able to design independently about this time next year (the world will be better for it). While she’s gone through some tough times, she reports that she’s come out from it by pulling herself back together and has somehow learned to fluently sing the Welsh National Anthem to boot. How lucky we all are to know we have a place to stay in Caerphilly, Wales, the next time we’re in town.

Across the pond, Erin Kim is in Boston (her school rhymes with Barvard) on the path to becoming a doctor, and although she hasn’t gotten married yet, she reports that she definitely wants to soon (inspiration: Mitch Rands). It may come as a surprise to some that to this day she only has about 5 people on her Instagram Close Friends list. Her note has been edited for clarity after reports from Erica Kim ’18 that Erin was less than thrilled about her representation. She wants anyone visiting Boston to please hit her up! Paul Choi and Jae Hyun Kim are also in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, respectively. Paul reports that he is currently working as a management consultant. Jae Hyun reports that she is in her first year of law school and says that she misses everyone and hopes that we are all staying safe during these tough times. Jae Hyun, if you’ve discovered any excellent quarantine routines, please share!

Despite her insistence that she is working “sweatshop hours,” Michele Lim seems to be living

it up in New York City while working at Credit Suisse. She reports that quarantine has led to several weekend cooking sessions and that yes, she is still reading. As a fellow survivor of IB HL Lit, I can tell you that Michele takes her reading very seriously and that we all have Michele to thank for single handedly boosting the average level of personality on Wall Street. Also based in New York but currently living with parents in Seoul, Reca Sarfati has been working as a macroeconomic research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York while somehow managing to find the time to apply to PhD programs in Economics (apologies for the repeated IB reference, but I must also remind you that this woman took 4 HLs). You can catch her in either Cambridge, Massachusetts, or Palo Alto, California, in the future. She’s been painting again and is also on the hunt for good book recommendations. Ji Yang is in New York hoping to become, and I quote, an “impactful architect that doesn’t toil in vain!” Nathan Young reports that he is an analyst for the US Navy in America’s capital, Washington, DC. Kat Berwick is not far away in Arlington, Virginia, where she has quit her manager job and is currently applying to grad school. Josh Everett is in Columbia, South Carolina, where he has started a new job as a Process Engineer at International Paper. He reports that his hobbies are still the same—lifting, volleyball and basketball (side note: congrats on the new car, Josh!). Finally, Michelle Lee is tuning in from Fort Benning, Georgia. Heading west, George Dornbach is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after spending the past year teaching English at a high school in Japan. He’s doing some of the coolest things out in Minnesota— working for a nonprofit that works with schools and does daylong character building retreats with elementary, middle and high school age students. Mitch Rands is happily married and is living in Provo, Utah, where he is still grinding in school. Leo Cho is in Dallas, Texas, where he reports that he and Jhoonil are the “co-god kings of a Minecraft feudal empire.” He reports that full leadership will be passed on to Jhoonil once he begins medical school and that he guesses he’s also been an artist in his spare time. It might surprise you that Joel Benson recently got engaged and is getting married in September! It should come as no surprise, however, that he got his commercial pilot certificate and still loves flying. He worked as a flight instructor throughout college before transitioning into his current role at Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. Michael Jung is living all the way down south in San Diego, California. Ian Kim is also down in SoCal where he is doing library school in Orange, California, while working part time at Chapman University’s Law Library. He has about a year left in his program, and he is excited to see where it takes him. He reports that he’s been somewhat absent from social media (aside from Messenger, which no longer counts), but he’s hoping everyone is doing well and that he’s always wishing the best for everyone (in case you needed another example of why the world does not deserve Ian). Eunice Lee, Bryan Kim, Andy Han, Isaac Son and Hana Kim are in the Bay Area of California. Eunice studied journalism in college and thought she was going to end up being a news reporter. But as luck would have it, she fell in love with product design and is now working at Apple as a UX/UI designer. I might also add that Eunice is an excellent host and has excellent taste in interior design (which I love as much as I love her mother’s Doenjang-jjigae). Bryan also recently moved out to the West Coast—first to Los Angeles, and then to the Bay Area. He seems to generally enjoy the West Coast more than New York, especially the weather and the boba. He’s doing a Master’s in CS at Stanford and is aiming for engineering jobs in the near future. Isaac is attempting to create a video game by the end of the year while maintaining his full-time job at a tech company. Finally, Hana is also a software engineer at a tech company, and she’s been taking figure skating lessons as a new hobby. I’m currently finishing up the second year of my Teach for America placement in the Bay Area of California. Apart from wearing glasses and writing a thesis on soju, I don’t think much has changed since high school, but Erin reports that she frequently and obsessively stalks my Instagram and declares that I’ve marginally glowed up. Random side note: I learned to drive in 2016 and was briefly obsessed with how fun it was to drive. The second I started driving to work after graduating, I started hating it. I’m planning on moving to a city this summer that doesn’t require me to own a car so that random road trips can become fun again—I have no idea where I’ll be, but reading your updates reassures me that at the end of the day, we’re really all going to be OK. Signing off—stay safe! Joon Kim : jkim527@gmail.com 15 Thomas Kim: After having recently graduated from college and now entering the workforce, I can’t help but look back at my ten years at SFS. SFS was a great place for me to really discover myself and has taught me so many valuable lessons. It amazes me to see how far the school has come, and I look forward to getting back on campus soon! 18 Valentine Im is currently studying hotel management at Les Roches University. Valentine Im ’18

SFS Reunion

A mini SFS reunion was held in Arizona this past February. The members of the Friends of Seoul Foreign School, alumni, and former faculty and staff in the nearby region (and also from Seoul) had a wonderful time sharing their memories at SFS.

In Memory of Gabby Han �16

It is with profound sadness that we inform the SFS community of the recent passing of Gabby Han, SFS class of 2016. Gabby was a third year chemistry student at Warwick University in England. Her brother, Sammy, graduated from SFS in 2014, and her mother, Jianne, was a beloved member of the SFS staff. We keep her family, friends, castmates and choir mates in our prayers. Gabby’s impact was great, and she will be deeply missed.