In June 2009, RIT graduate Arricka Nowland participated in a two-month cultural exchange to South Korea, supported by PEN-International and PEN-International partners, the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled (KEAD) and Korea Nazarene University (KNU). During the first six weeks, Nowland taught American Sign Language to 15 deaf students in the mechanical engineering program at KEAD's Ilsan Vocational Competency Development Center. In her spare time, she socialized with deaf students from other programs who taught her Korean Sign Language and described their experiences growing up deaf in Korea. Nowland also spent a week teaching beginner, intermediate and advanced English classes at Korea Nazarene University. Nowland participated in local deaf activities discussing issues pertinent to the Korean deaf community. Nowland also had the privilege of meeting with Seung-Il Byeun, Chairman of the Korea Association of the Deaf; Byoung-Kil Moon, Chairman of the Seoul Association of the Deaf; and Kyu-Sik An, General Director of the Seoul Association of the Deaf along with other deaf leaders and sign language faculty involved in the Korea and Seoul Associations of the Deaf. In addition, she visited the Samsung School for the Deaf, one of Seoul's residential deaf schools. She learned more about elementary and secondary deaf education in Korea and taught an ASL class to the high school students.
