Completion of “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act”

Aug 22, 2022, 10:19 am

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At the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” held on the 13th with the graduation service and sending of missionaries, Chairman Dae Cheon Seo said, "SDC graduates are leaving for the U.S. to study. Today we send these students as missionaries. The SDC graduates sing "A Song of Commission" to find only God and be successful through the Lord while they study in the U.S.

SDC International School, church school of Holy Seeds Church (Pastor Dae Cheon Seo) is a place where they foster global leaders. On the 13th, “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” was held which was reported on the 16th.

Pastor Dae Cheon Seo of SDC International School church of Holy Seeds Church, Asia’s Representative of the World Hug Foundation, said “"Many foreign adoptees who have been adopted into the U.S. have been deported to Korea due to lack of U.S. citizenship. They suffered from differences in living conditions and culture, or some even ended their lives by suicide. I was very happy to hear that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Adoptee Citizenship Act. For this accomplishment, we invited delegations from the World Hug Foundation who worked hard to produce this result in every way possible. We planned this event as a method of welcoming them.”

In particular, World Hug Foundation officials, including the U.S. World Hug Foundation Chairman Joanna Kil, who has been trying to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act by the U.S. House of Representatives was invited by Pastor Dae Cheon Seo along with Secretary General Kang Chun Lee and Chang Seop Shin to attend the event.

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On the 13th, “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” was held where graduating students threw their caps and cheered.

Through the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act”, SDC students learned the sad situation of adoptees, and the meaning of the August 15th Liberation Day. A day filled with blood-sweating efforts and sacrifices of the ancestors allowed this country to shout for freedom and peace. Students said, "While planning and preparing this concert, we realized that every precious time that we experience is possible because of someone else’s tears, effort, and sacrifice."

SDC International School church of Holy Seeds Church’s 2022 Graduation Service was held at the Woogyeong Art Hall of Gyewon Arts University with around 900 spectating participants.

On this day, SDC International School students, parents, relatives, officials; overseas students; Sungkyul University President Sung Young Kim; Kohel University President Man Nam Son; C Channel President Kwan Sang Ki;, Korea Presbyterian Church President Hak Pil Kim; World Hug Foundation Chairman Joanna Kil; Chairman of the Korean National Exchange Association Song Ki-hak; Chairman of the Christian New Association Sun Il Jeong, Chairman of the Samsan Presbyterian Association Hyo Geun Kwak and about 70 VIPs from all walks of life in the religious and society world joined the event.

The first part of the graduation service began with the Silent Prayer Song of Mi Yeon Cho, a standing member of the Incheon City Choir, followed by prayers, introduction of guests, national anthem, awards ceremony, parent speech, sending away speech, reply speech and special words by Pastor Nam Cheol Yoon.

At the graduation ceremony, 46 SDC students, including Yehwa Lauren Seo received the △Presents of the National Assembly △ Seocho-gu National Assembly Member's △ Head of Seocho-gu District Office Award △ Far East Broadcasting Company President Award △ Chairman of the National Cultural Foundation Award △ Presidential Award of UNESCO Memorial Foundation for the 3.1 Movement of the National Assembly △The Presidential Award of the General Assembly of the Korean Church of Jesus △ Presidency of the Entertainment Broadcasting Missionary Church △ Korea Federation of Christian Journalists Award △ Representative and presidential awards for advanced newspapers

△ Student Legal Newspaper Representative Award and President Award △ Presidential Award of Tongil Newspaper △ World Hug Foundation Chairman's Award △Kookmin Ilbo Pastors Forum Presidential Award △Winghouse Representative Award △ Representative of the People with God Award △Lohas Representative Award △Holy Seeds Church Volunteer Award △ Men’s Mission Award △ Presidency of the Parent Teacher's Association △ SDC's Honorary Award.

The second part of the event was to commemorate the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” by dance performances, skits, musicals, orchestras, and choruses, with 250 high school graduates, middle and elementary students participating.

After the graduation service, a Love Concert was held to commemorate the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives under the U.S. Adoptee Citizenship Act. The concert began with SDC Orchestra's performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Music from Frozen.” After that, △SDC Elementary and Middle School Dance Performance "Shouting Hoorah" △ "SDC Wonderland" by Middle and High School △ High School Team 2’s "Final Destination" △ "Who am I", a celebratory performance by the youth department of the Holy Seeds Church △SDC High School Team 1’s "The Savior" △ Graduating Team’s “Hero of the Nation Ahn Jung-Geunn” performance was shown.

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On the 13th, “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act”, Joanna Kil, President of the World Hug Foundation, said, "I am grateful to the SDC students and the parents who have prepared the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act.”

Joanna Kil, chairman of the World Hug Foundation, said, "I am grateful to the SDC students and the parents who have prepared the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act.” This drew attention by vividly conveying the reality of the 19,000 U.S. adoptees and the process of trying to pass the Citizenship Act in the House of Representatives.

The concert was followed by a special performance by Seung Hwa Park, Yurisangja and finished off with a finale performance of “Arirang Medley” and performed a missionary sendoff ceremony for graduating SDC students who will be on their way to study in the U.S. in 2022. His Nation Praise team at Holy Seeds Church lead the “Song of Commission” for the graduating students.

SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” with SDC International School students was a large-scale event with 350 people participating in the planning and performance alone. Nearly two hours of performance time were spent by SDC elementary, middle and high school students, 2022 church school graduates, international students from SDC and young adults attending prestigious universities in the U.S. helped with the performance.

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On the 13th, “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act”, SDC’s orchestra (Conductor Sang Ok Lee), announce the beginning of the concert with colorful rhythms and thrills of music. Photo = SDC International School

The World Hug Foundation (Chairman Joanna Kil) is a non-profit organization that helps foreign adoptees who were adopted to the U.S. as a child but have not received citizenship even until adulthood and hence become illegal immigrants. Philip Clay (Korean name Kim Sang-pil), who was adopted overseas as a child but deported to Korea in 2012 due to abuse of his adoptive parents, failed to settle down in Korea due to language and culture differences, and eventually killed himself five years later.

Meanwhile, Yehwa Lauren Seo, who appeared in the "Arirang Medley" said, "I would like to thank everyone who attended the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” by adding meaning to the appreciation for our country. Arirang, which was selected as the most beautiful song in the world, means 'the joy of finding the true self, with Naa, Ichi-ri, and Joyulang.' We were able to find out who we are and where we came from by knowing Jesus, and the joy of finding ourselves in Arirang was that I realized that God was my creator and that I was God's precious child."

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At the graduation service held on the 13th, Yehwa Lauren Seo won the National Assembly Speaker's Award. / Photo = SDC International School

In addition, "I thank God for passing the Adoptee Citizenship Act and holding a National Love Concert today, and I give all the glory to the soldiers who devoted Arirang given by God, adopted families who must miss their homeland, and God who protected our country.

Won Joon Yang, a student, said, "In SDC, we realized that 'I am God's precious child' and experienced the happy life of a teenager who puts hope in Heaven. The reason of wanting to go to a prestigious university in America is not just to eat well and live well in my life. Every step we take is to proclaim Jesus, who is the main road to salvation, and to preach the gospel. In Korea, the world's best country, we will not forget that we, who receive the world's best SDC education and are armed with the love of Jesus Christ, are spiritual leaders who cannot be compared to anyone else. I believe that through us, who have enjoyed the greatest and most special teenagers in SDC, the Lord will surely write the history of the gospel in this land.

Tae Hwan Kim, who participated in the musical performance "The Hero of the Nation, Ahn Jung-geun," said, "There are many independence activists who sacrificed their lives for the independence of Korea during the Japanese colonial era days when the country was taken away. Among them, Ahn Jung-geun sacrificed his life, leaving a great history of the Korean independence movement under the Harbin Act. Many people, including Ahn Jung-geun, have loved their country to such an extent that we exist today. Under God's protection, Korea was able to grow to become the best in the world. I sincerely thank the independence fighters who gave up their lives and everything they had to protect the country, and I hope everyone will truly love the Republic of Korea from this moment forward.

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SDC students perform, "The Hero of the Nation, Ahn Jung-geun," at the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act” event.

Hyun Young Kim, a parent, said, "It is very touching that SDC teenagers will hold a concert to welcome the passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, an overseas adoption that even adults were not interested in. Thanks to the students who planned and performed the event, everyone who attended today's event would have had a good opportunity to recognize the problem of overseas adopters. The steps of SDC students are a good example in a sad reality where there are many teenagers who pursue entrance exams and their successes rather than love for their country and live only for their individual achievements. I hope today's concert will be a precious first step for the next generation to create this country and once again create an era of Jesus revival.”

An SDC official said, "SDC International School, which fosters the next generation with a five-star global talent that combines Rationality, Intelligence, Sensibility, Fitness and Spirituality has received a cumulative scholarship of $4,457,004 from △UC Irvine △UC Davis △ Wisconsin-Madison △ Illinois Urbana Champaign △ Georgia Tech △Purdue University △ Ohio State University △ University of Washington, Seattle △ Pennsylvania State University in Universities Park and more in the year 2022.

He added, "In particular, we have produced successful applicants to leading U.S. Art colleges, including Chicago School of Fine Arts, and this year we have achieved a feat of getting 100 percent of the applicants to U.S. universities. Some of the students who graduated from SDC and went to prestigious universities in the U.S. are continuing to make remarkable achievements by graduating in two or two and a half years, and the number of students going to master's programs such as Cornell University and Seoul National University is increasing."

Meanwhile, “Holy Seed” of Holy Seeds Church in SDC which is affiliated with the Korean Presbyterian Church, has the meaning of “Holy Seeds” which holds the mission to serve the youth who will lead this era.

Founded by Pastor Dae Cheon Seo, SDC International School is a church school of the Holy Seeds Church, who has devoted 28 years to educating the next generation, raises youths with the heart of Jesus Christ to turn them into global leaders, embracing the nation and the world.

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Students are performing "The Savior" at the “SDC National Love Concert” and “Welcoming the passage of the U.S. House of Representatives Adoptee Citizenship Act.” /Picture = SDC International School