Student Symposium

In Partnership with the Governor’s Academy

The museum is pleased to partner with The Governor's Academy for the fifth installment of our popular "Student Symposium" series.  The March 28 program will begin at 7:00 pm, with a reception preceding at 6:30.  Come and hear a high school senior speak about her historical rediscovery of a US Army general’s heroic but forgotten role in South Korea’s reconstruction after the Korean War. The general’s marvelous accomplishments are matched by that of Chloe Kim, the young scholar whose historical work resulted in a 10-day exhibition in a major South Korean museum last summer.  The program is free and open to the public, but space is limited; contact us at 978-462-2681 or info@newburyhistory.org to reserve your seat.

“A Tribute to US Army Gen. Richard S. Whitcomb: Rebuilding South Korea after the Korean War” by Chloe Kim '19

The Richard S. Whitcomb Exhibition at the United Nations Peace Memorial Hall in Pusan, South Korea, July 12-22, 2018, was a product of Ms. Kim’s extraordinary initiative, resourcefulness, and work to memorialize a US Army general whose dedication to the rebuilding of South Korea in the wake of the Korean War, particularly the devastated Pusan region, had nearly been lost to history. From pieces of the story Ms. Kim located in archives in Korea, in Harvard’s Peabody Museum, in the U. of Wyoming, and in possession of Whitcomb’s daughter, whom Ms. Kim located in California, this high school student revived the American officer’s pivotal and perhaps indispensable role in the building of roads, homes, orphanages, a hospital, the University of Pusan, and the city’s prosperous harbor facilities. What began as a high school assignment for Ms. Kim resulted in an international event: a major exhibition that opened to an audience of civilian and military dignitaries, Korean and American. Ms. Kim dedicated her memorial to a soldier whose “humanitarian spirit” and resourceful deployment of resources for human and economic development “transformed Korea from a country [needing] foreign aid into one that could give” – a model, she hopes, for foreign aid policy by other countries that can afford to give.

Chloe Kim (pictured below), a senior at The Governor's Academy from Seoul, Korea, is a passionate, enthusiastic student of history, political science, economics, and environmental science. She also enjoys playing volleyball. 

Chloe Kim and Ho Hwan Chun, President of the University of Pusan