Congratulations Wardah!!!

POSCO Holds Event for Social Contributors

By Park Hyong-ki Staff Reporter POSCO, the world’s No. 3 steel maker, has celebrated its first event honoring outstanding contributors to education, science and voluntary services. Three people were recognized for their creativity and challenging mindsets by the POSCO TJ Park Foundation, the steel producer’s social service organization. Lee Ku-taek, CEO of POSCO and chairman of the TJ Foundation, presented its first award to Ihm Ji-soon, a professor of Seoul National University’s department of physics and astronomy. POSCO recognized Ihm for his life-long dedication to studying physics, energy and electronics. The graduate of University of California at Berkeley served as a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before becoming a professor at SNU. Kang Seok-joon, principal of Nonsan Daegeon High School, was invited to the stage to accept on behalf of his school the award in education. The school was honored for developing new education models, such as the “Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Study and Service’’ (PESS) program that emphasizes practicality and leadership. Recognized for outstanding voluntary services was Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of Indonesia’s Urban Poor Consortium. Hafidz, also known as “Mother of the poor,’’ has spent most of her life helping the underprivileged in Indonesia. She participated in relief efforts after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Southeast Asian region. Her help now has global reach and includes the Philippines and Thailand. Besides a trophy, each of the honorees received prize money of 200 million won. The foundation, created by Park Tae-joon, founder and honorary chairman of POSCO, aims at boosting social services and cultivating human resources. One of its greatest contributions was to establish education institutions in Korea, including the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). Park asked the honorees to continue using their talents to develop their country. “Like the recipients, POSCO was able to create something from nothing mainly because of its great and challenging staff,’’ he said. News from The Korea Times.