Katie Coppersmith, a junior at Hoover High, will be traveling to South Korea on a scholarship as a Youth Ambassador for Project Bridge. 

“I applied for the very selective Project Bridge Program in October 2023 after hearing about it from a previous ambassador who had a great experience and was thrilled to find out I got selected,” said Coppersmith. 

Project Bridge is an intercultural youth leadership program that aims to cultivate future community leaders and introduce them to U.S.-Korea relations, with an emphasis on cultural and racial sensitivity and a firm understanding of Korea. Partnering with the New York-based Korean Society, The Mansfield Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, and the Pacific Century Institute in Los Angeles they coordinate a year-long intercultural outreach program. 

Eight students from each cohort in Montana, New York, and Los Angeles were awarded a fully funded scholarship to travel to South Korea on a two-week study tour this month. 

“I’m excited about going to South Korea this year,” said Coppersmith. “The Project Bridge program is super unique and important as it aims to involve students in the younger generation in global relations. The program allows me to connect and learn from political and global relations leaders, and other students both in the US and Korea in ways I haven’t before. 

“These programs teach us a lot about the world and let us see people and culture from another perspective, especially being able to see it first hand on the study tour to Korea.” 

This is not the first time Coppersmith has been to South Korea. 

She went to South Korea to participate in the November 2022 International Korean Youth Conference hosted by IKEF (International Korean Education Foundation). Coppersmith studied abroad at the Hana Global campus in South Korea on a different fully funded scholarship for a seven-day study tour with 100 international students from 32 different countries.

Coppersmith was one of three students selected to represent the United States. 

“After studying Korean culture and language for the past 12 years through the FLAG program, I completed the highest course of Korean 7-8 last year at Hoover,” said Coppersmith. “I am very thankful for these two opportunities to study in South Korea to wrap up my Korean journey. It feels like a full circle moment.” 

“We are very excited and proud of Katie and can’t wait to hear about her adventures” said Elizabeth Green, Coppersmith’s mother.