On October 14, 2023, River Dell senior Chanhee Suh flew to Wheeling, Illinois to present her art pieces relating to Korean culture created during her AP 2-D Art and Design class from her junior year for a Korean American cultural art conference. Traveling with her father, they arrived at the Korean Cultural Center of Chicago where she attended the “Cross-Cultural Comparison between South Korea and the U.S.: Understanding and Teaching Culture Through the Arts” conference.

Two students were originally picked by Ms. Faunde to present their pieces under the shared theme “Korean Culture”. Chanhee Suh and Danielle Lee. However, Danielle Lee, class of 2023, had already gone off to college when the opportunity arose. Ms. Faunde “wanted me and a senior last year, Danielle Lee, to present our work, but she had graduated, so I was the only one who could represent our school,” Chanhee mentioned.

When asked how she came across the opportunity to send her River Dell students to a professional art conference, Ms. Faunde explained that she had history with the conference organizer. “In 2019, I traveled with a group of teachers from across the country on a Study Tour of South Korea. Dr. Kang, of Indiana University, was our leader. This year, Dr. Kang organized this conference, ‘Cross-Cultural Comparison between South Korea and the U.S.: Understanding and Teaching Culture Through the Arts’. “Seeing that two of her AP 2D  Art and Design students created artworks heavily inspired by Korean culture, she saw to it that they received the opportunity to be able to present their art pieces.

Chanhee was nervous to represent herself and Danielle. “I presented 5 of 12 of Danielle’s works and presented 6 works of mine.” With the fact that everyone else at the conference was a college professor or AP teacher, Chanhee turned out to be the only highschool student. This only upped the fear factor of this whole ordeal.

During the presentation, Chanhee began by explaining her vision for her portfolio: “The main theme was to redesign mythical creatures and characters from Korean folklores and mythology in my own style of reinterpretation” She finished her speech by mentioning her designing process. “It begins with researching about a specific figure, gaining information and appearance description for giving a draft image of the character…” With more thorough details shared on the day of the presentation, Chanhee successfully represented River Dell High School!

“Congratulations to Chanhee! A wonderful accomplishment representing herself, her classmate, and River Dell High School!” jovially declared Ms. Faunde.