On July 7, 2022 (Thursday), HUFS held a ceremony to appoint HUFS student and honorary ambassadors for 2022 at the FILA Acushnet Hall of the Smart Library on the Seoul Campus. At the ceremony moderated by Park Gyeong-Eun, Head of the Office of Public Relations, HUFS named the 23rd SAEROMI student ambassadors and the 2022 HUFSon student ambassadors for HUFS’s official YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, blog, and other SNS channels. The SAEROMI and HUFSon ambassadorships began in 1999 and 2012, respectively.

During the ceremony, HUFS appointed one more HUFS student to serve as an honorary ambassador – Jonathan Yiombi, who is majoring in Political Science and Diplomacy (entry class of ’20). The Congolese student came to Korea in February 2008 and was admitted to the HUFS Department through the 2020 early decision application. On his way to fulfill his dream as an HUFS student despite all the difficulties he has faced as a foreigner, Jonathan gained nationwide fame after his appearance on the “Congolese Prince and His Family” episode of the KBS real-life documentary “Ingan Geukjang” as well as the MBC Radio Star talk show. Since then, he has become a personality loved by Koreans of all ages through various activities on YouTube and mainstream broadcasting channels. HUFS gave him the title of honorary ambassador to represent its global outreach and has created a new advertisement with Jonathan that captures his uniquely cheerful and bright image.  

HUFS President Park Jeong-Woon said in his congratulatory remarks, “I am pleased to award these letters of appointment to our students who are as passionate as July’s hot summer in promoting and brightening up our university. In particular, I am confident that we will be able to create synergy with our new honorary ambassador Jonathan and boost the positive image of HUFS.”

Jonathan explained how he decided to join HUFS in his thank-you speech by saying, “I remember that former U.S. President Barak Obama said ‘Let’s Go Together’ in the special lecture he delivered during his visit to HUFS in 2012. After seeing that, I began to dream of joining HUFS to see for myself how globalized an institution HUFS is.” He added, “It is truly my honor and pleasure to be appointed as an HUFS honorary ambassador, and I will strive to live up to this title going forward.”