Students from Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) won the top prize in the "Green College" competition hosted by the Presidential Committee on Green Growth.

The award-winning team, "Nature," consisted of I Ye-nok (third-year, Department of International Trade), Kim Kyung-wan (fourth-year, Department of International Trade), Jeong Woo-seon (third-year, Department of International Trade), and Park Ye-seul (third-year, Department of Architecture & Urban Engineering).

Over a four-month campaign centered on realizing the paired values of green and growth in the local community, the team drew attention by performing strongly in regional debate battles on green growth, providing on-site environmental education to elementary students, and conducting projects that linked green growth to their majors.

Out of roughly 1,000 teams nationwide, our team was selected among the final 29 teams after the first-round question on green growth and the second-round mission, which required posting on a blog about what they wanted to do in the project.

During the month-long final round reading and discussion series on green growth, they debated two books, The Future of the Earth and Cheerful Lifestyle Habits for Surviving on a Hot Planet, and held an event in which they created and signed a "Green Pledge" listing actions to be taken for green growth.

In the regional debate battles on issues such as energy price increases, participants engaged in spirited argumentation for and against the topic. The JBNU student team drew praise from the judges, who said their preparation appeared solid and thorough.

As part of the second mission, which involved green-living education for elementary students, the team developed their own green educational materials and conducted a two-hour class at Bongseo Elementary School in Wanju, earning a positive response from the children.

For the final mission, which required linking green growth with their majors, the team proposed a project to replace one-time-use international trade packaging with a new packaging method to promote green growth. The judges described the project as original and practical.

I Ye-nok said, "Through several months of participating in the competition, I learned most about how green growth will affect Korea's future. I learned the valuable lesson that once you set the right direction, you should keep walking quietly, and I am very happy we achieved good results."

The winning student team will have the opportunity to visit Stockholm, Sweden, and Berlin, Germany. From August 15 to 23, they will tour Swedish environmental firms and an eco-town, as well as German industrial research complexes and eco-villages, before returning home.