Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

Dear Donors,

Greetings!

My name is Gibson Katuma, and I hail from Tanga, Tanzania. When I was a young high school teen in Tanzania, all I dreamt was to study abroad, experience new cultures, and explore the world beyond my imagination. I am now beginning my senior year as a Mechanical Engineering major at Stony Brook University, SUNY Korea. How surreal! Thanks to my donors I have been able to live that dream for the past three years.

I arrived in Incheon, South Korea, in the fall of 2021, amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and not knowing a word in Korean. Moving to a country with a completely different culture and language was terrifying, but gracefully it has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. At SUNY Korea, I indulged in Korean culture. Before I knew it, a warm bowl of ‘kimchijjigae’ became my favorite comfort meal, singing at karaoke with friends was a signature activity of our hangouts, and visiting Korean museums became a surprising new hobby. Immersing myself in the vibrant South Korean culture helped me learn the language, enjoy the tasteful cuisine, and participate in cultural activities. Additionally, the study abroad program in the United States has enriched my experience even further. This is all I ever wished my university years to be.

As a Shared Prosperity scholar, I have grown not only academically but also socially and culturally. I am deeply grateful to the Donors for their generous support and for their mentorship. Their contribution has transformed my aspirations into reality. I also want to thank the entire SUNY Korea community, including the students, professors, and staff, for their unwavering support and assistance in my journey. Life at SUNY Korea has shaped me into a mature individual, ready to make a positive impact on my community and the world. Thank you all for being part of my journey and helping me achieve my dreams.

Dear Donors,

My name is Roshan Poudel, and I am a recipient of the Shared Prosperity Scholarship at SUNY Korea from August 2018 to May 2022. I am writing to express my gratitude to the foundation for the generous support that I received throughout the years, without which my goals of attaining a quality higher education would have been inconceivable. Everyone says college is expensive, but for a middle-class student from a humble background in a third-world country like Nepal, affording college at a prestigious institution like SUNY Korea was unimaginable. Through the scholarship funded by your organization, I received the opportunity to study in two of the most powerful countries in the world: South Korea and the USA. Not only did I get a great quality education, but I also had the opportunity to experience life in two different countries.

Keeping in mind the great opportunities this scholarship has provided me with, I worked hard throughout my college life and graduated with a GPA of 3.95 and with Summa Cum Laude, the highest Latin honors. After graduating with a degree in Computer Science, I received the offer to work as a Software Engineer at Amazon's Seattle headquarters, where I have been working for the last 5 months. As I look back to reflect on the last four years of my life, every single bit feels like a dream come true. All of this was possible only through your generous and selfless efforts. For someone who needed one chance to prove his talent, the scholarship from G&M Foundation has turned out to become a lucky charm that has brought a multitude of life-changing opportunities. Any amount of thankfulness appears inadequate in comparison to the opportunity that I received from the G&M foundation. For all of this, I would like to express my humble gratitude and also make a promise to pay it forward by helping as many people as I can.

Dear Donors,

I am Mark Aaron Dela Cruz, one of the beneficiaries of the Shared Prosperity Scholarship here at SUNY Korea. I am now in my 3rd year of majoring in Mechanical Engineering and I am here again to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of all the scholarship recipients for your unwavering support and generosity.  

I continue to thank you for this wonderful opportunity that you’ve bestowed upon me, being able to chase my dreams and pursue my education here at SUNY Korea. This semester has personally been my most challenging so far. However, I am continuing to persevere through this while still doing my best to have a well-rounded development by joining the running and tennis club, learning the Korean language, and also taking care of my health by getting enough sleep. I’ve been able to do this together with all the wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in this university. I owe all of these amazing experiences to you for making this possible, and I thank you once again, from the bottom of my heart. 

As the pandemic continues to disrupt our slow return to normalcy, I am still in awe of your generosity despite these times. It has been almost 2 years now since the pandemic began, and there has always been an air of uncertainty surrounding everything in our lives. However, both you and the university have made us feel safe and reassured during these testing times.

Dear Donors,

I am Phyo Htet Htet Khine from Myanmar, studying Technological Systems Management at Stonybrook University of SUNY Korea.
First of all, thank you very much for supporting the scholarship recipients. I really appreciate how you took part in changing lives into better ones one could ever get.

I believe education is the key to success in any person’s life. Therefore, I am very grateful to have received the scholarship thanks to your generous support. Having spent two years in SUNY Korea, I have achieved a 4.0 term GPA which I thought I would not be able to do it when I was in Myanmar. I have worked in different departments on campus including research projects with start-up companies which I thought I was not ready to work yet. And most importantly, I got to experience cultural diversity which taught me a lot, changed how I perceive things, and showed me the world.

To keep it short, you allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and showed me who I could be and things I am capable of doing.
I am making a good use of your support by studying hard, engaging and adapting in society, and challenging myself to explore new things. I will make sure to help as many people as I can with what I could do.

I want to let you know that you took a huge part in making my dreams come true and I could not thank you enough. I wish you all the best, especially happiness, success, wealth, and health.

Dear Donors,

My name is Leah Nabangi, a sophomore at SUNY Korea. I am honoured to attend such a prestigious school as this on scholarship, and am writing on behalf of all the scholarship recipients at SUNY Korea to express our sincere gratitude for your generosity which has opened many doors of opportunities for us.

As an international student in an American university in Korea, I have been able to interact with people from all walks of life and truly be part of a global community of diverse folk, an aspect that I believe all the others can attest to. I have been here for one year now and I am realizing my dream every day. Through my Applied Mathematics and Statistics major, I have been able to directly work with the experienced faculty here on campus and work alongside students with the same goal, which has inspired me a great deal. I have also had the opportunity to be part of many extracurricular activities on campus which has contributed to my all round growth.

Without a doubt, this scholarship will play a central role in helping all of us achieve our educational dreams. With the removed financial burden, we are able to experience a wholesome college life without worrying about our finances. Therefore thank you for investing in SUNY Korea and in the future of students like us.

Dear Donors,

My name is Rediet Negash, and I am a shared prosperity scholarship recipient of the undergraduate scholarship here in SUNY Korea. I feel honored to receive this scholarship and am grateful for the opportunities that it is providing me.

As a high school student, I always dreamed of going abroad to study for my bachelor’s degree.

Thanks to financial donors like you who make the dreams of students come true, I have been able to study here in SUNY Korea. I have been here for two years now, and I am realizing my dream every day as I work directly with faculty and do researches with professors as my study progresses. I plan to graduate in Spring 2021, and I hope to continue my education as a graduate student as well.Without a doubt, this scholarship has been playing a key role in achieving my academic success.

Because of your generosity, the financial burden placed on me to pursue my education has been taken away. Hence, I want to magnify your support as it is making a big difference in my life. If it was not with your help, I would not have been able to learn in SUNY Korea. My educational pursue would not have been possible without the generous support from scholarship sponsors like your organization. I want to also confess that your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.

I would love to again express my deep appreciation and sincere gratitude for enabling this opportunity!Thank you for your investment in SUNY Korea and the futures of students like me

Dear Donors,

Dear Future Donors,Hello. My name is Charis and I have come from Ghana in Africa. I would like to share my story about the support from my sponsor over the past four years.

Thanks to his support, I was able to finish my undergraduate course without any difficulty at SUNY Korea and at Stony Brook University in the U.S.

Whenever I was overwhelmed in the middle of the unfamiliar culture and lifestyle, I was always reminded of the generous love of my sponsor. Then I promised to myself that I will finish this 4 years in university without any regret and to appreciate my sponsor for the unending grace given to me.

I have met various people at SUNY Korea, and developed a sense of understanding relationships with people and organizations. Furthermore, I was able to start recognizing the problems of the world and earned knowledge with skills to come up with a possible solution.

In the beginning of my undergraduate years, I only focused on being successful. However, throughout the last 4 years, my dream has completely changed; and that is to more beautifully transform the world through people, like what my sponsor did through myself.

With my experience of the rapid economic growth of South Korea, I hope to go back to my motherland, Ghana, to contribute to that nation’s development. Likewise, I kindly request you, as SUNY Korea’s precious partner, to join in supporting students from developing countries to become the leaders who will change the world.

This is a thank you letter written by our very own student Charis Asante-Agyei, who graduated in June of 2017