She had no prior plans on entering the Miss Korea 2007 competition but fortunately stumbled upon an advertisement about the event. While taking part in the competition, academically, she had difficulty managing time during fall semester last year.  She had a lot of photoshoots and interviews relating to her competition and had to miss classes in order to attend those various events. However, she could not simply ask the professor to have her absence excused because she needed to have her pictures taken—she felt ashamed. She was not only missing classes but was physically tired as well. Long hours of shooting photos, training and ending late, she would not have the energy to wake up for class the next morning.

Even though she experienced mental and physical fatigue, and had a difficult time balancing work and school, she believes that it was worth it. Through this experience she met some great people with great ambition. Maybe spectators have a misconception that having the title ‘Miss Korea,’ enables competitors to abuse that label and use it to succeed in the life of an entertainer. But surprisingly, many of the contestants went back to school to finish up their MBA degree or to continue their outreach in volunteer work. But most importantly, she realized that education is a very important factor in people’s lives. She felt that whatever one’s field of study is, how one treats others, speaks to others, every single action reflects upon their basic foundation. To her, her label as a ‘student’ always came before her label as ‘Miss Korea 美 2007.’ She could have jumped onto the bandwagon of media but finishing school is her first priority.

Earning the title of “Miss Korea 美 2007” did not affect her life much. People would recognize her on the streets and at school but nothing extreme. If anything thing did change, it would be the number of visitors to her personal homepage. As of now, Lee hopes to finish her studies in the Dept. of Communications and either work or take some time off for herself and then attend graduate school to extend her knowledge in her field of study. She hopes to either work for a big firm or be a broadcaster.

She wishes for one thing. She hopes that Yonseians will seek out for what is out there. “Right now we are in the prime of our time. We all should cease the day and hope for something new and exciting. There are many things that only “college students” can do. The label “college student” offers so many opportunities and I hope that everyone will take every advantage of that and use it to their fullest,” she hopes.

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   Meeting Lee Jin, I expected to interview a very beautiful person physically, but I was proven wrong. It is beauty that captures your attention, personality which captures your heart.