KENNESAW, Ga. | Mar 27, 2025

Apart from managing a full class schedule and extracurricular activities, Lena Song is a changemaker.

A double major in media and entertainment studies and graphic communications and a minor in Asian Studies, Song serves as the vice president of a registered student organization, is actively involved with the Korean program, and recently completed the inaugural Metro Atlanta Changemakers Fellowship.

As a student in the KSU Journey Honors College, Song had the opportunity to work on application materials for competitive scholarships and fellowships in HON 3497: Honors Pathways, a course first introduced in the fall 2024 semester. She soon found success with Asian American Advocacy Fund, an organization that sponsored the fellowship and where she had previously performed volunteer work.

“This is genuinely the best college experience I’ve had because of being able to find people I can truly work with and professors who actually care about me,” Song said.

Associate professor of German Shane Peterson, who led Honors Pathways, said one of the strengths of the Honors College is that it offers opportunities to support students in interdisciplinary endeavors.

“Lena’s project is a perfect example of that, where she is combining arts and design through filmmaking with history and with storytelling,” Peterson said. “She’s really connecting a lot of different disciplines and a lot of different skills, and her work embodies the three identities of students in the Honors College — lifelong learners, collaborative leaders, and civic-minded scholars.”

A North Carolina native, Song transferred to KSU because of the out-of-state tuition waiver offered by the Honors College, but also because the university is more accommodating to a working student. Her college career hasn’t been linear, having come from two schools in the metro Atlanta area.

“I would say for us transfer or nontraditional students, we have to work and be able to go to school at the same time or have alternating semesters of work and school,” Song said. “KSU has been accommodating, understanding that not everyone is in the position to solely be a student.”

For more than a year, Song has worked part time at the media production company Tomorrow Pictures, creating commercial content as well as original stories that seek to make a positive social impact. She fondly recalled one project entitled “The Third Country,” an intimate portrait of the migration journey and resettlement of young Burmese refugees in metro Atlanta.

“The documentary showcases a story of hope,” Song said.

She has used this experience as a moment for students at KSU, screening the documentary for members in her student organization.

“They resonated with it so much because a lot of them were first-year college students, and then a lot of them also come from nontraditional circumstances, like those who moved across the country or are from a completely different continent,” Song said.

Jeongyi Lee, professor of Korean and coordinator of the Korean Program, coached Song through preparing for a speech in last year’s Annual Southeastern U.S. Korean Speech and Quiz Contest. Competing with students from 10 universities, Song was awarded third place in her category for memorizing and relaying a script she wrote about her grandfather, a native of North Korea who fled from the Korean War to South Korea at age 11 and then migrated to the U.S. with her grandmother to make a life for themselves in Atlanta. They opened the city’s first Korean restaurant.

“Her story is very inspiring,” said Lee, who teaches in the Department of World Languages and Cultures in the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “I think Lena’s present is shaped by seeing her grandparents working hard. It comes from her roots. Her grandparents must be very proud of her. I’m sure her compassionate soul will keep inspiring many.”

– Story by Amber Perry

Photos provided

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.