A New Home for North Korean Refugees: FSI

The third international youth forum was conducted by Freedom Speakers International (FSI) on July 2nd, 2022. The Tmark Grand Hotel Myeongdong hosted this occasion.

The International Youth Forum's goal is to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the one to come.

The forum's scheduled events were as follows: opening remarks from Casey Lartigue, FSI's co-founder; a speech from a North Korean refugee; thanking the outgoing leaders; introducing the new leaders; reviewing the accomplishments of the various FSI teams over the course of the school year; outlining plans for the following school year; presenting awards and concluding remarks from Lartigue.

In the introductory speech, Lartigue went over the history of FSI. The organization initially started with a couple of high school students asking Lartigue to get service opportunities. The students then set up specific plans to make an organization that included high schools in Korea to make students consistently participate in service. As time passed, the organization became more extensive, with more than 400 members joining. The two co-directors of the organization graduating high school gave their farewell speech, explaining how FSI gave them valuable experiences. 

Coming up to the stage, the new leaders for the 2022-23 academic year laid out their strategies. Then, co-founders Casey Lartigue and Eunkoo Lee presented honors to sports teams and after-school organizations. These prizes were created to honor the support that teams and clubs provided to FSI during the academic year 2021-2022. Additionally, this award was intended to motivate participants to put in more effort the next year to maintain the results or contribute more to be considered for the honor.

The overall theme of the 3rd International Youth Forum was celebrating the past and planning for the future. Lartigue commented in his speech that he wants Freedom Speakers International to become a larger organization with global reach. Members seemed to be delighted to receive awards and sounded eager to unfold their plans for the coming school year. People should keep an eye on Freedom Speakers International, as it is full of ambitious and motivated individuals.