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QCC Student Has One Honey of a Job as STEM Ambassador

July 2018
  • Beekeeper Sang Yun “Brandon” Won
    Beekeeper Sang Yun “Brandon” Won
  • Student Ambassador Sang Yun “Brandon” Won
    Student Ambassador Sang Yun “Brandon” Won
  • Sang Yun “Brandon” Won is always on the lookout for bees.
    Sang Yun “Brandon” Won is always on the lookout for bees.

Late summer is the time when the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and the bees are buzzing. It’s also a time when the campus begins to kick into high gear in anticipation of the upcoming fall semester.

Buzzing about the campus like a true “worker bee” and helping prospective students learn the ins and outs of QCC, is Sophomore Sang Yun “Brandon” Won. For over two years Mr. Won’s cheerful face has been the first point of contact for many new and perspective QCC students.

Mr. Won, from South Korea, came to QCC to study environmental science with a specific interest in learning all he could about bees. In South Korea, he and his parents practiced bee keeping as a hobby. He said that “hobby” has now expanded to between 30 and 40 hives.

“My mom is really into it and City Hall (Suwon, South Korea) even opened up its roof so she could do her bee keeping,” he said. “Beekeeping has great environmental benefits.”

It was his love for bees and his desire to see what he could do to help fight the bee colony collapse disorder that is killing off the bees, which led him to Massachusetts and QCC.

“I began to do research and found that Massachusetts has a great reputation in science. I also had met a friend in South Korea who had gone to QCC and said it was a good school, which was how I decided to come here,” Mr. Won said.

Once at QCC, he obtained a work study job on the main campus, which afforded him the opportunity to showcase the college to others as a student ambassador… a job he has embraced enthusiastically. He assists students with the application process; especially valuable to those students going through the international application process. His fun-filled campus tours are a big hit, often interspersed with humor to make the tour lively and engaging.  On the tours, students most often ask about transfer programs, what majors are offered, and what they can do with those majors. He is well-versed in his answers, as he aspires to one day transfer to Worcester Polytechnic Institute and major in entomology with a focus on melittology (the study of bees).

This past year he has expanded his duties and become a STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) ambassador, a natural fit for an environmental science major. The position is funded through the state's STEM Starter Academy (SSA) grant.

“Whenever we have a tour I focus on the Fab Lab, computer science labs, the science and the manufacturing labs and brag about what we have,” he said, adding, “Once in a while I’m even surprised at what we have.”

Visit QCC’s Liberal Arts – Environmental Science Option to learn more.

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