ESKARA, the Highlight of September
From September 13th to 14th, ESKARA 2023 was held on the Natural Sciences Campus (NSC) to celebrate the 625th founding anniversary of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). ESKARA is an integrative festival that has been alternately held between the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus (HSSC) and the NSC since last year. On the 13th, the Eve Festival marked the exciting start of the annual celebration. Various student booths were set up on the grass field in front of the Samsung Library, creating an energetic atmosphere. Meanwhile, student clubs, including PHAROS and Moyeorak, shined on the stage located in front of the booths. Later in the day, singer Lee Juck embellished the night of the Eve Festival through his melodic performance. On the 14th, the main event, ESKARA:1398 was held to honor the founding anniversary of SKKU. In continuing the vibrancy of the Eve Festival, dance clubs such as Hwarokcheong and JDA hit the stage and escalated the enthusiastic atmosphere. To celebrate the tradition of historical Sungkyunkwan, Kinggo Cheerleaders, in collaboration with the student club Cheong Lang, delivered an outstanding performance. Moreover, famous artists, including NewJeans, Beenzino, and AKMU, enriched the festive night and filled the campus with their passion. Between the artists’ performances, the main event of ESKARA, Cheering Festival 1398, took place and allowed Kingos to experience a sense of unity through intense songs and choreography.
More Culture, More Welfare
To successfully preserve the objective of ESKARA to achieve integration between both campuses, SKKUP, the 55th Student Council, initiated various cultural policies. First, they released a collection of basketball, soccer, and baseball uniforms based on ESKARA’s signature color theme of deep green, which received explosive responses from the students. Through this collection, SKKUP effortlessly established the festival’s dress code, creating large, deep green waves of Kingos in front of the Samsung Library. Hong Ji-won (Sophomore, Department of Chemical Engineering) commented, “Unlike the previous festivals, which simply announced the color scheme through the official Instagram, this festival initiated the pre-sale of the collection, allowing the students to experience a sense of unity through the dress code.” Additionally, SKKUP promoted Hamsung as the main cheer song for the students and produced a prologue video to raise anticipation for the Cheering Festival. Park Geun-ah, the 55th student president of the NSC, explained, “The true objective of ESKARA as an integrative festival is allowing students from both campuses to gather in one place and cheer together to the same song.” SKKUP also intended to activate the student booths by encouraging HSSC students to participate, as the festival was held at the NSC. Thus, they provided student booth organizers from the HSSC with a separate shuttle bus to accommodate their long travel. Apart from the cultural efforts, SKKUP further introduced many policies in the area of welfare. Primarily, they established a ticket pre-booking system for ESKARA:1398 to guarantee the participation of all SKKU students and minimize any potential issues arising from outsiders’ entrances. All SKKU students, including students on leave of absence, graduate students, and international students could reserve their tickets through an online form. Then, the students could receive their reserved tickets by 3 p.m. on the 14th after an identity verification process. For students departing from the HSSC, SKKUP also prepared a fast check- in policy where students could receive their pre-booked tickets at the HSSC before heading to the NSC. Alongside these efforts, SKKUP increased the number of shuttle buses traveling between the HSSC and NSC and extended the office hours of the health center to prevent accidents effectively.
Shortcomings despite the Festivities
Despite many efforts of SKKUP, there remained some issues with ESKARA 2023. First, the problem with the pre-booking system was addressed despite its goal to guarantee the participation of all SKKU members. The online survey form used for pre-booking required students to put in their phone numbers, leaving behind international students without a Korean number. Later, SKKUP solved the problem by offering a separate online form for international students. However, SKKUP faced criticism since the change was implemented only after some international students had voiced their concerns over the issue, highlighting their lack of preparedness. Moreover, there was a controversy over the fact that SKKUP did not plan for unfortunate weather conditions. The Eve Festival, held during the rain, revealed that SKKUP had not only been unprepared but also did not respond instantly to the questions of the student booth organizers that were raised on the 12th. Later, SKKUP posted a notice on their official Instagram account stating they would have tents prepared, but they could not avoid criticism for their delayed response. Furthermore, there were problems with the purchase system for food trucks. Unlike other festivals where the food trucks used the on-site payment system, ESKARA 2023 introduced the pre-order system through an online application called Queenssmile to prevent long queues and minimize the waiting time. However, new issues arose as online purchases were often delayed due to poor connections, and most people could not receive the menu even after the reserved time. Choi Eo-jin (Sophomore, Department of French Language and Literature) said, “It was uncomfortable that the payment method was limited to online purchases since I could not use my credit card or cash on site.” Lastly, criticism sparked over the order of the performance on the 14th. Unlike previous festivals, the performance of Kinggo Cheerleaders was allocated in between the stages of several artists. Such a sequence and the delay of the overall performances, which led Kinggo Cheerleaders to perform in multiple intervals, was deemed to disrupt the concentration of the audience on each stage.