Around 400 Yonsei students returned home from their Hope Expedition this summer during which they reached out to teenagers all over the country to plant hope. The Hope Expedition, which has been one of Yonsei University’s major volunteer activities since its launch in 2008, helps children who live in villages that are educationally underprivileged. The Expedition reaches out to young students who live in rural and remote villages that are educationally underprivileged. This summer’s Hope Expedition held an opening ceremony on July 5 at the College of Business and Economics after which the Expedition’s 400 students reached out to provinces including Seoul, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang, and started various learning camps for teenagers from early July to late August. This year, in particular, the program was chosen for its excellence by the Korea Student Aid Foundation and was given a project fund of 20 million won. At the ceremony, Lee Sang-jo, Senior Vice President for Administration and Development, said, “I ask you all, as members of the Hope Expedition, to share your abilities and dreams with students and become not only role models but as change agents for the regions.” Park Hong-yee, former leader of Yonsei’s volunteer Center, asked the Expedition to “redefine the meaning of volunteer and to remember the fact that the joy of giving is far greater than the joy of getting.” The Expedition stayed in educationally underprivileged regions for three nights and four days to help teenagers with their studies and offer a wide variety of programs on self-study methods, debating, resume writing, and more. Even after the program ended, members of the Expedition have become personal mentors to the students and are continuously keeping contact with them. One of the students who was in the program said, “I gained hope and courage” and that “I will study hard with Yonsei University.” Flowers of hope are growing where Yonseians have left.