By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN – Fluency in a foreign language can pay off.
This is especially so if you are a student in Henry Seo's Korean language class at Buchanan High School.
Last year three students traveled to Korea where they spent three weeks with families living in Seoul or the surrounding countryside.
This year's essay winners were Ricky Cohn and Spencer Anglero, $100 and Jeccika Shepherd and Rikki Farrell, who each won $200.
A congratulatory luncheon was prepared for the Korean language students, their parents, other faculty and administration, Friday, in the high school library.
As a surprise, the students presented a folder with letters of thanks to local Korean War veteran, Donald Holmes of Buchanan.
"Mr. Holmes is among the unsung heroes of that war," Seo said.
Seo's class is one of those that have been rescued after being threatened by recent budgetary cuts.
Wayne Writer, Community Education Director, traveled to Korea in 2001.
"Many of the highest level people there know Henry. In Korea an educator is highly esteemed above most other professions," Writer said.