Soonwook Hong

Highlights of Young Scholar Experience: Soonwook points to the private art lessons that he was able to take as a Young Scholar. In addition, the scholarship allowed him continued participation in the National Latin Convention.

Profile: Soonwook is the oldest of three children and came to the United States with his parents when he was five. He won many honors through his academic and extracurricular activities at his high school, but when asked to share his greatest achievement in his life so far, it’s a no-brainer. The young man who loves Latin and understands how valuable it is in understanding other languages, says learning English will always be his greatest triumph. “It may sound trivial, but I can still remember the loneliness and confusion I felt in elementary school due to my inability to speak English.”

Inspiration: Soonwook will always be indebted to Christine Conklin, his high school Latin teacher, “for teaching me many lessons about life as well as Latin.” He was first exposed to the beauty of poetry through Ms. Conklin.

Aspiration: While his long-term career goals are still not yet firmed up, he does want to continue to be involved in community service opportunities in college and beyond.

Making a Difference: In high school he was a praetor of the Latin Honor Society, and was active with the debate team and a service club called Building a Better Community. Outside of the classroom, as an intern at the Naval Research Laboratory, he and his mentor performed research on semiconductor surface chemistry. That work was submitted to the Material Research Society for the organization’s annual spring meeting. 

Accolades: Soonwook was a National Merit Finalist and received the Washington Academy of Sciences Research Award. In 2008, he was a member of the winning team for his level of Latin in the Virginia State Certamen (Latin word meaning competition) Championship, a quiz bowl activity revolving around classical themes of Latin, Roman history and culture, and mythology.

Interesting fact: He loves to read poetry from different cultures and time periods. One day he hopes to read Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian.