“Was BU Worth It?”

“I knew all along I wanted to come back,” says this year’s Commencement student speaker, Seung-joon Lee (CAS’15), who left BU to join the South Korean army. “Before I left I met wonderful professors and great friends, and we would talk about all sorts of things. That was my foundation when I took the leave of absence.” Photo by Cydney Scott

This year’s Commencement student speaker will bring a unique global perspective to Nickerson Field when he steps up to the podium Sunday. Hailing from South Korea, Seung-joon (Joon) Lee (CAS’15) left BU in 2009, midway through his studies, to join his country’s army, and stayed to work as a journalist interviewing North Korean defectors before returning to Boston to finish his degree.

Despite his unusual background, Lee says he plans to use his speech to address a question of interest to all seniors: “Was BU worth it?” He’ll speak in front of an estimated Commencement crowd of 20,000 people.

“We pick a major and stick to that, but some people wonder if their major and their time were worth it,” says Lee, who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and will work as a research assistant at McLean Hospital, one of the nation’s top psychiatric hospitals, where he’ll research addiction. “With all due respect to BU, it’s an expensive school, so we wonder that. But BU allows you to look at bigger pictures overall….The lessons I learned from my classes gave me insights in some of my toughest moments.”

Each spring, graduating seniors are invited to submit a potential Commencement address to a faculty committee. This year, the committee weeded through 47 submissions before settling on 5 finalists. Those five were then asked to deliver their speech in a mock Commencement setting. Lee was chosen and has been working with Kenneth Elmore (SED’87), dean of students, to hone his delivery.

Born in South Korea, Lee first came to the United States at age 13 to attend high school; he enrolled at BU in 2006. On top of his classes and part-time jobs catering and working at the Mugar Memorial Library circulation desk, he spent his limited free time auditing a range of classes, such as genetics, Latin, economics, and sign language. Although he enjoyed his studies and life in Boston, he couldn’t ignore his urge to return to South Korea to fulfill his mandatory service with the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA).

The Korean War ended in 1953, but tensions between South Korea and neighboring communist North Korea, a country accused of numerous human rights violations, remain strained. South Korean men must serve in the military for two years, but when is up to them. Lee chose to enlist when he did because he was at his “strongest physical ability,” he says. “Of course my parents were not completely thrilled about me going, and people did not understand.”

He joined the ROKA GOP division, stationed in the South Korea county of Yanggu, where he served on the front line, stationed on the border. One of his most haunting memories, he says, is of the malnourished North Korean soldiers he saw.

“Korea has been separated for over 65 years; we read about it all the time, but we never see what is actually going on,” Lee says. “There needs to be more understanding between the two nations and better communication, because the problem will not be resolved quickly.” He’s hopeful that “unification will happen” at some point.

After his military service ended in September 2011, Lee decided he wasn’t yet ready to return to BU. He found an internship with the Korea Times, a local English daily, and soon found his bilingual skills in demand. He was promoted from translating to writing stories about topics like the memorial service for North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, Myanmar refugee children in Malaysia, and families torn apart after the Korean War who still dream of being reunited. He later worked as a producer on the South Korean hit TV show Now on My Way to Meet You, which highlighted North Korean defectors in a combined talent show and talk show format. All the while, Lee kept in touch with his friends and faculty at BU.

Following a 10-month stop in Shanghai to learn Chinese, he returned to BU in January 2014. “I knew all along I wanted to come back,” says the 27-year-old. “Before I left I met wonderful professors and great friends, and we would talk about all sorts of things. That was my foundation when I took the leave of absence.”

This past semester, Lee was a teaching assistant for the College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate course Drugs and Behavior, taught by S. Barak Caine, a CAS lecturer in psychology as well as an associate professor of psychology at Harvard and a McLean Hospital Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center staff member. Lee plans to pursue his interest in neurology and psychology in his new job working with Caine at McLean studying nicotine and other alkaloids.

As student speaker, Lee will share details about his nine-year path to graduation and discuss why the sacrifice and hard work at BU was worth the effort. As for specifics, he says he wants to retain an element of surprise, but he does plan to talk about how BU has given him a foundation he’ll continue to draw on as he goes forward. “I think we sometimes completely forget that what we have been doing every day at school is proof that regardless of our different ethnicities, we can work together,” he says.

Another surprise in store for Sunday? Lee hasn’t told his family he’s been chosen as student speaker.

Watch Lee’s speech here.

More information about Commencement can be found here.