Heather Kim, News Writer

On the cold autumn night of Nov. 21, Thanksgiving Eve, students and teachers congregated in the school cafeteria from 5 – 7 p.m. to celebrate Acoustic Christmas under the warmth and ongoing enjoyment of food, music, and shopping.

For many students, the highlight of Acoustic Christmas was the art auction set up by the art club. Supervised by Mrs. Kim, the art club students worked arduously on art productions up to the day of Acoustic Christmas. During Acoustic Christmas, the art club sold pencil cases, paintings, photography, and computer stickers.

“I bought the pencil cases that I made in art club because I felt proud and I  have actually painted a product myself and I am selling it in the auction, so it feels good that I am selling my own painting to some other person, commented freshman Jennifer Kim. “

Since the main purpose of acoustic Christmas is to raise money for a non-profit organization of the Global Issues Network’s (GIN) choice, Ms. Kim wanted to sell all the items the art club made.

“This year I had three leaders in our club. Each leaders took part in teaching techniques to other students. One technique was marbling and the other was stencil.” She added, “A group of students had the choice of whether to use stencil or marbling. They either printed images, painted stencils, or applied marbling onto the pencil cases.”

In addition to the art auction, vibrant music and the smell of palatable food filled the air. Members of the GIN club, parents, and faculty stood behind tables to sell food and drinks. The food and snacks sold were the most-purchased items.

“By helping others, I feel very compassionate and I also feel that every action helps kids who I do not know but who are very poor,” commented junior Daniel Lee, a member of the GIN Club who sold pizzas that night.

During Acoustic Christmas, performers sang in front of the audience. Senior Joel Navam, performed “True Love” by Phil Wickham. The thought of using his talents to represent Jesus influenced him to sing in front of the audience. He expressed, “I sang about how Jesus is alive, Christmas is centered on Jesus and who He is and not only his birth but His life and death for us. Instead of preaching to people, song is a creative way to let others know what I think.”

Caleb Kim, a junior, remarked about the overall atmosphere of the night, “I liked how it was really casual and how everyone was really chill, people were eating and people were enjoying the show. It was really informal and that was what I really like about it.”

Jennifer Choi, a junior, felt that having Acoustic Christmas was a good experience for the participants because “people got to gather around to talk about their lives, they got to know each other more, hear good songs, and got to purchase things to help people.”

Devoted to helping organizations as a Christian school, the funds raised from the event was sent to “Compassion.”

Compassion is a child sponsorship ministry that provides unprivileged children with economic, spiritual, social, and physical poverty support through sponsors.

The Global Issues Network club’s main purpose for hosting Acoustic Christmas was to sponsor two children this year from Compassion by earning a total of 1,080,000 won. The fund provides a sponsored child with food and clean water, medical care, education, life-skills training, and Christian life.