Eight graduates. Six musical performances. Three languages.
The 2025 graduating class at Sejong Academy was small. But enthusiasm from families filled the gym. Students performed K-pop dances and sang lyrics to K-pop songs they had written themselves. The school’s Korean Music Ensemble offered performances in both seoljanggu, or drumming, and samulnori, an ensemble of traditional percussion instruments.
Much of the ceremony was translated into both Korean — the language the students had studied in school — and Karen, the language most of them speak at home. All of the graduates are bilingual or trilingual. Teachers read inspiring proverbs from both Korean and Karen traditions. And two graduates earned state honors in written and spoken Korean language proficiency, while another earned a certificate in written and spoken Karen.
Yun Cho, the lower school principal, addressed the similar experiences of Korean and Karen immigrants in her graduation speech.
“I’ve been in your shoes where I was the interpreter and translator on many occasions where I didn’t feel quite comfortable, but was forced to or had to be present and speak up on behalf of my family,” she said. “And through it all, you and I kept trying, pushing through and didn’t give up. And that matters.”
Sejong Academy, a Korean immersion charter school in Maplewood that has become a haven for the Karen community, is an only-in-Minnesota story. The state has both the highest concentration of Korean adoptees — and the largest Karen community — in the U.S.
Sejong Academy’s founders originally imagined that the school would help Korean adoptees learn about the country where they were born. But from the beginning, the majority of students were Karen — a refugee community that fled Myanmar.
The school is now home to more Karen-speaking students than nearly any district or charter school in the state; only St. Paul Public Schools and Albert Lea Public Schools have larger Karen populations.
At Sejong Academy, students learn Korean language and taekwondo. During the annual Korean New Year celebration, students demonstrate their mastery of Korean traditions, like janggu (drums) and saebae (bowing to elders), and hold a hanbok fashion walk. This year, for the first time, the school held a Karen New Year celebration, too.
In the school’s first year, about two-thirds of students were Karen; now, that number is closer to 90%. The school embraced its unexpected demographics by hiring Karen staff, expanding its English as a second language program, developing Karen cultural programs and passing school board resolutions to protect its immigrant students.
At the same time, it has recently become an International Baccalaureate school with pathways in pre-medicine exploration and K-pop production. The school hopes the IB program will help attract more diverse students, said Brad Tipka, the school’s executive director.
The school attracts families who want to keep all their children in one K-12 school, but by the time they reach high school, some students leave for bigger schools and other opportunities. This year’s graduating class is smaller than usual. But those who stay enjoy a close-knit sense of community.
Sea Ter, the class salutatorian, transferred to the school when it first opened in 2014, when he was in second grade. He remembers noticing a difference from his old school right away.
“Automatically I could feel the teachers were way more involved and caring of students,” he said in an interview after the ceremony. “They really want to get to know their problems.”
In his time at Sejong, he said in his graduation speech, he’d watched his classmates transform from “young kids that will fight over snacks” to “grown, respectable individuals.” Though some of his peers transferred away, Sea Ter stayed because he appreciated the community and how well the teachers knew him. He enjoyed participating in the school’s drumming team and learning about Korean culture. He found it challenging to learn Korean, his third language, but ultimately earned a Korean language proficiency certificate from the state.
From idea to reality
The idea for Sejong Academy came from Julie Chi, a mom who hoped to create an immersion experience for her then-3-year-old twins. In 2007, after returning from a family trip to South Korea, where her husband is from, she noticed a neighbor’s yard sign for the Mandarin Chinese immersion charter school Yinghua Academy. She wanted to create an opportunity for her kids to be immersed in their father’s language.
Chi knew that Minnesota had a large population of Korean adoptees, and expected they would be a logical audience for a Korean charter school. She promoted her idea at Korean cultural events, identifying people from both the Korean immigrant and adoptee communities interested in joining the initial school board.
“We were surprised that in addition to Korean adoptee families, there were quite a few Karen families who were interested,” Chi said.
The Karen community’s interest was no accident. That connection came from the work of Grace Lee, who became the school board chair, a role she still holds.
Tabling at a community fair, hoping to generate interest for the school, Lee met a Karen staffer for Ramsey County Public Health. That staffer suggested that the Karen community would want to know about the school, and recommended an apartment complex for Lee to visit. On evenings and weekends, Lee went door to door in the apartment building with her husband’s co-worker, who was also Karen. She also visited a few Karen churches. By the time the school opened, it was majority Karen.
“They felt that they weren’t being served or treated well in the schools that they were currently in at that time, and they were looking for a smaller community,” Chi said.
Dissel Moo remembers feeling scared when he transferred to Sejong Academy in 2014 as the school was opening. Dissel Moo, then a sixth-grader, was assigned to a mixed class of fifth- and sixth-grade students.
But as he got used to it, he realized the smaller school was a good fit for his shy personality. He was surprised to realize that most of the students were Karen, like him. And most of his teachers were Korean. For the first time, he was in a school where both his teachers and classmates were predominantly Asian.
“My education has improved a lot when I attend that school, because of the relationship I have with my teachers,” he said.
Dissel Moo continued volunteering with the school after he left. He’s now a special education assistant at the school while completing his degree in elementary education at the University of Minnesota, and plans to return to Sejong Academy in the fall as a teacher.
“You feel safe,” he said. “It’s like your second home.”
Now, the school’s reputation spreads through word of mouth throughout the Karen, or K’nyaw, community.
Saw Tho Du Soe, a drug prevention facilitator at the school, said that K’nyaw families appreciated the school’s small size and safety as well as their connection with K’nyaw staff. He uses monthly calls and workshops to keep parents connected to the school. Parents also appreciate the fact that at a K-12 school, they can send all their children at once.
“If one student goes here,” he said, “their siblings go to this school.”
At a Korean New Year celebration in January, some students and parents told Sahan Journal they had chosen Sejong through a recommendation of a family member. Htoo Nay, the mother of a 6-year-old student at the school, said she chose the school in part from an interest in Korean culture — she would like to visit Korea someday.
HserNay Ta Thablay, a 10th-grade student at the school, said he came in part because his brother was here, and the small school allowed for healthy relationships with teachers. “The school provides a lot of opportunities for students,” he said.
Though the majority of students are Karen, the school also enrolls students with Korean heritage — and some who just have an interest in Korean culture.
“We have gotten some older students who are particularly interested in K-pop, and that’s why the older kids sought out our school,” Lee said. “But for the younger students, it’s usually their parents either heard from a friend or they particularly wanted either a Korean immersion experience, or some people just want to send their kids to a charter school.”
Rebecca Nohava, a parent at the school, explained that she chose the school to provide a cultural connection for her children, who are half-Korean. “I was very excited for the cultural immersion,” she said. “My kids don’t get that at home.”
Richard Robinson, another parent at the school, told Sahan Journal that his daughter, Gabi, loved South Korean culture — and was thriving academically and socially since she transferred to Sejong Academy. Gabi Robinson, an eighth-grader, said that Sejong Academy stood out when she was looking for a new school because of her interest in K-pop and K-dramas.
“Overall it’s been just a great experience,” she said.
Is it hard to learn the Korean language?
“For me, it’s easy,” she said. “For others it could tend to be difficult just because of the different letters, having to piece them together, make the correct sound.”
Next steps
In Sea Ter’s graduation speech, he advised his classmates not to fear change.
“No matter what role you choose to take after high school, I urge you not to be afraid,” he said. “It is okay to not know what will happen. It is okay to make mistakes and most importantly, it is okay to change.”
He thanked his family for the sacrifices they had made to create change in his life: “leaving behind your home, your family, even your dreams, that gave me one of the greatest opportunities in life — the opportunity to get an education to achieve my dreams.”
After the ceremony, Sea Ter was bombarded by friends and family members who bestowed him with gifts and flowers and posed for selfies. He said Sejong Academy staff helped him find the perfect college fit for him: the University of Minnesota. He’s loved the sense of community at Sejong Academy, and is looking forward to finding another strong sense of community at the U.
He hopes to live abroad in the future, and knows his Korean will come in handy. He plans to continue his Korean language studies at the U.
Staff data journalist Cynthia Tu contributed reporting.
