Gwangju International Center

SPEAKER: Joey Nunez
CO-WRITERS:​ Elizabeth Augustoviz

GIC TALK DATE: January 30, 2016

GIC TALK TITLE: Work Highlights, Moments, & Memories: Life as the First Westerner GIC Coordinator

Today’s speaker was someone who has been the face of the GIC Talk for quite a long time, Joey Nunez, a former GIC coordinator. Joey’s presentation was titled Life as the GIC's First International Coordinator. He focused his talk on the highlights, moments, and memories he had while working at the GIC.  

His first volunteer role was with the GIC library, where he helped to arrange the books and recategorize the library. In 2014, he started helping out with the Gwangju News program. His main role was proofreading, where he felt he could have a great impact. Through those two volunteering experiences he knew he wanted to get involved more with the GIC. He had dinner with Dr. Shin and this is when it was decided that the GIC would have its first international coordinator.

Joey’s main duties at the GIC were overseeing the GIC Library, GIC Talks, the GIC talk Junior Program, proofreading, organizing the World Human Right Cities Forum Discussion Groups, helping with the Gwangju News, and managing the first-floor. As you can tell, Joey was a very busy person at the GIC so he could not possibly talk about everything he experienced during this GIC Talk. He did, however, share one powerful lesson he learned.  It was during one the World Human Right Cities Forum discussions, when he truly understood the importance of the “voiceless” being heard.

During Joey’s time as a GIC Talk coordinator, he saw the creation and execution of 51 GIC Talks! One of his main goals was to create an atmosphere of community where all people would feel welcome. His management helped the program grow into what it is today.

Lastly, Joey shared his future plans with us. The first week of February, he will travel to Daegu, Busan, and Seoul. Then, after a week of rest, he will leave Korea to travel to Japan, Mexico, Honduras (for 1 month), and then, he will go back home to the USA. Joey also explained that his reason for leaving Korea was“Nothing special, I just want to move onto a new chapter in my life.”

Thank you, Joey, for sharing your experiences at the GIC. We will never forget the time we spent with you. Take care and best wishes!