Lucy, a guide dog, becomes an honorary student at Sookmyung Women’s University
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- Writer 총관리자
- 보도일자 2010-07-09
Sookmyung Women’s University appointed a guide dog of a blind student majoring in Education as an honorary student in an event hosted to celebrate “International Guide Dog Day.” Sookmyung students walked with guide dogs with their eyes covered in the event as well. The program was planned to have students understand the difficulties of blind students.
Seohyang Yoon, who is twenty-year-old and entered Sookmyung Women’s University this year, always goes to school with Lucy, her guide dog which is a two-year-old Golden Retriever breed. Miss. Yoon and Lucy first met when she entered university. Before the start of the semester she had to worry about going to school on her own unlike her school for the blind which she had gone to as a teenager. However, she was relieved of the burden of attending school by meeting Lucy. Although it hasn’t been so long, some of people on campus already know about Lucy. They even pleasantly ask how Miss. Yoon and Lucy are doing when they come across them.
For Lucy is going to share the entire campus life with Miss. Yoon, Sookmyung Women’s University decided to give Lucy an honorary student identification card. Miss. Yoon welcomed the news, saying, “Lucy goes to school with me and stays beside me in class every day. She might have a sense of belonging at Sookmyung.” Miss. Yoon also told us a few episodes about Lucy. One of them happened when she was in the middle of a lecture. “Somebody in the class was snoring and all people in the classroom heard the sound. At the end of the lecture a professor quietly asked one of students if she knew the snorer. When she answered that it was Lucy, the professor laughed,” Miss. Yoon revealed about the episode.
Miss. Yoon said that she became friends with many people owing to Lucy, and the friends got to know better about guide dogs as time went by. “They used to pat Lucy and feed her food but now they understand those behaviors can distract Lucy’s attention,” she explained. However, general students hardly realize the difficulty of blind students who always have to live with guide dogs. Seonghee Choi, Chief Officer at the Student Culture and Welfare Department which is in charge of welfare responsibilities for physically handicapped students, had organized this event in which Lucy got her honorary student identification card and Sookmyung students had opportunities to experience the difficulty of the blind students and to have time to get closer to guide dogs.
Currently, Sookmyung Women’s University has two blind students on it campus. “The general students might be able to have better understanding about the blind students’ life on campus, and they could have time to be closer to guide dogs trough this event,” the chief officer stated.
Jaewon Jang from Samsung Canine Center for Companionship which co-hosted the event remarked, “This event will offer many people opportunities to understand about guide dogs. They somehow know about the role of guide dogs but do not understand a code of behaviors they need to keep. We thought that Sookmyung students could enjoy the International Guide Dog day and realize the behavior code to treat guide dogs through this event. Moreover, we believe Miss Yoon and her guide dog Lucy would be able to enjoy school life better after this event. ”
Sookmyung is planning to regularize this event with Samsung Canine Center for Companionship to better communication between blind students and others.
Sookmyung has had three blind students so far. One of them is Yeji Kim who studies in the U.S. now and was graduated from College of Music at Sookmyung without any major hardships via help of her guide dog. The other two are Kyeongmin Kim and Seohyang Yoon. Kyeongmin Kim majoring in Education is spending her senior year and is expected to be graduated soon. Seohyang Yoon is a freshman also majoring in education. The chief officer of the Student Services Department explained that those students overcame their own obstacles and has become symbols of courage and hopes to other students.