Posco's 'Beyond' student volunteer corps wraps up 19th cohort with activities in Korea and Vietnam

Posco announced Sunday that its student volunteer corps "Beyond" has completed three months of activities, with the 19th cohort holding a showcase of their work Friday at Posco Center in Seoul.

Founded in 2007 under the motto "go beyond here and now, and reach further ahead," Beyond brings together university students who plan and carry out volunteer activities to engage with communities at home and abroad, taking the lead in addressing environmental and social challenges.

This year's 19th cohort operated as an intensive summer program. Members kicked off with an inaugural ceremony in June, building their engineering skills through hands-on education and maker activities — projects involving the creation of devices using various tools — before moving on to domestic education volunteering tied to the development of engineering experience kits, as well as an overseas service trip to Vietnam.

Organized into five teams, members drew on technical theory and applied education to plan and develop engineering kits and learning content centered on electronics and circuits, physics and mechanics, and physical AI. They created hands-on content linking real-life applications — including AI and sensor technology, principles of physical motion, and safety — to engineering concepts such as ultrasonic sensors, machine learning and mechanical structures, then put the materials to use in their education volunteering.

In July, the cohort conducted education volunteering for 63 children at a community child center in Songdo, Incheon. Using the engineering kits and content they had developed, members explained scientific and technological principles and their everyday applications in an accessible and engaging way suited to the children's level, sparking greater interest and curiosity in engineering.

In August, the cohort traveled to the Phu My area in southern Vietnam, where they delivered engineering education to 250 elementary school students. Alongside the hands-on engineering sessions, members also took part in improving the school environment through mural painting and garden planting. K-pop dance performances and traditional Korean fan-making workshops gave Korean and Vietnamese students a chance to learn about and exchange each other's cultures.

The overseas trip was notable for the participation of seven Vietnamese university students who hold scholarships from the Posco Cheongam Foundation's global excellence program. Korean and Vietnamese university students jointly ran the education volunteering and cultural exchange programs, putting into practice the values of learning and sharing across borders.

"We will continue education and cultural sharing activities through the Beyond student volunteer corps so that future generations and local communities can grow together," a Posco official said.

Meanwhile, Posco carries out a range of corporate social responsibility initiatives, including a classroom remodeling support project called "Classrooms That Grow Together," which improves the educational environment in special-needs classes at elementary schools as part of the programs run by its public-interest foundation Posco 1% Sharing Foundation.

Established in 2013, Posco 1% Sharing Foundation is a nonprofit public-interest organization funded by voluntary monthly donations of 1 percent of salary from employees of the Posco Group and its partner companies, matched by the company. The foundation has accumulated a total of 116 billion won ($84 million) in donations to date, supporting social contribution activities across a wide range of fields.