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BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published December 3, 2009

Calling through a 12-hour time zone difference in Vietnam, recent George J. Mitchell Scholarship winner Yongjun Heo ’09 explained how thankful he is for Swarthmore.

“I can’t express clearly enough how grateful I am for the support I received from not only my professors and faculty but also my fellow Swarthmore students,” Heo said. “Throughout [my first year and a half at Swarthmore], I was really able to learn an incredible amount and to become disciplined in a way where I was able to translate effort into performance.”

The Mitchell Scholarship, named after U.S. Senator George Mitchell, is sponsored by the US-Ireland Alliance.
According to the US-Ireland Alliance website, 12 candidates are chosen each year from the U.S. to study in Ireland or Northern Ireland based on their “academic excellence, leadership and community service.”

The scholarship is meant to promote the relationship between the United States and Ireland. Other students chosen this year include a Purple Heart recipient and a top collegiate cyclist. The last Swarthmore student to receive the scholarship was Elizabeth Anderson ’05.

“Ireland appealed to me because in the future, I want to study medicine and focus on preventative medicine,” Heo said. “With the healthcare reform going on in the U.S. now, I thought, ‘It’ll be interesting to go somewhere where there is universal healthcare.’”

Next fall, Heo will study public health at the University College Dublin.

After this, he plans on obtaining a medical degree.

Until then, Heo will be in Vietnam as a Luce scholar. He is currently working with the Institute of Population and Development Studies, a governmental agency and an NGO focusing on medical care for migrant workers.

While a student at Swarthmore, Heo participated in many activities, such as serving as Student Council President. He founded Pemón Health Inc., a nonprofit organization aimed at bringing students and healthcare workers to the village of Urimán in Venezuela for internships.

“He was an excellent student while he was at Swarthmore, he was a campus leader, including holding the Student Council President. He started his own group, which is now an independent organization,” Fellowships and Prizes Advisor Melissa Mandos said. “When you meet him, he comes [off] as a good ambassador, someone who can build bridges between different cultures.”

Despite his successes, Heo pointed out that it was not always easy for him. Heo said that he had trouble balancing the college’s academic rigor and his extracurricular activities during his first year and a half at Swarthmore.

“For the first year, I played catch-up,” he said. “I got so little sleep. We’re all straight-A students coming into Swarthmore, and it’s really a struggle coming in.”

He said, however, that the discipline he has learned during his time at Swarthmore is something that is invaluable to him.

During his sophomore year, Heo was able to transform his hard work into results. He was awarded the Lang Opportunity Scholarship to work at a medical office in rural Venezuela during that summer.

Heo offered advice to current students who have had to face similar difficulties: “I think there are students who are in that position who really get discouraged. No matter what, it’s up to you to overcome that, but it’s certainly a possibility for you to succeed and to do incredibly well in spite of your struggle.”

Upon returning from Veneuzela, Heo formed Pemón Health Inc., now a nonprofit organization whose members include students from Swarthmore, Haverford, Bowdoin College, California Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois, University of Notre Dame, and Indiana University.

In his senior year, Heo received the Luce Scholarship, which is designed for American college graduates to spend a year working in Asia. The scholarship is given to between 15 and 18 students per year.

The selection process includes a nomination from the eligible colleges and a decision by a group of selectors. Heo was one of the three nominated by Swarthmore. Heo originally asked for placement in Vietnam or Indonesia to work.

“I wanted to be in a developing nation with health problems,” he said. “What I did in Venezuela was in a rural area, and I wanted to work in an urban area in a developing country. I asked to be placed in Vietnam or Indonesia, and they found two placements for me here [in Vietnam].”

Currently, Heo works mainly on the planning stage of projects for both groups. As he overcomes the language barrier, he hopes to participate in the implementation of the projects that includes more direct work with the people.

Heo said that he believes that Swarthmore was very helpful in his winning both scholarships.

“For example, I was able to have practice interviews for all of those scholarships, and that’s unbelievable for people from other colleges,” Heo said. “What we have at Swarthmore that we do take for granted is the amount of resources made to each person.”

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