Universal Peace Academy Launches Field Training - Roland Platt

Universal Peace Academy students prepare for their cross-country spiritual pilgrimage around the Korean peninsula.

The field-training for the first semester at Universal Peace Academy (UPA) has begun. The activities ranged from a cross-country spiritual pilgrimage to volunteering at a farming village to practicing church- business management.

One of UPA’s activities included a cross-country trip during June 24 to 28, 2013 circling the peninsula. The trip began at the Cheon Bok Gung in Seoul. Students traveled to the east of Korea and visited Cheong Pyeong, the Unification Observatory in northeast Gangwon Provience, then traveled to the southeastern providence of Gyeongsang, and visited Jeon-la, the southwestern tip of Korea.

In order to complete the team missions, students volunteered at a farming village. After the cross-country trip, the students planned a fundraising trip and visited Yeosu in the south, the central location of the ocean providence, to learn about True Parents’ vision for the oceans. On the last day of the trip, they visited the Unification Observatory to pray for the unification of Korea. After the prayer, they walked for four hours along a river back to Seoul. The entire cross-country trip was a short four nights and five days, but the UPA participants were able to meet different people and got boot-camp training.

After the cross-country trip UPA students started fundraising on June 29th. Fundraising was divided into three sections: One-Man Business (OMB), Company Business (CP), and Cultural Business (CB). They fundraised in order to inherit and experience Unification Church culture and to develop managerial skills and to become financially independent centered on True Parents’ words: “to become a leader of the Unification church, you need the skills of persuasion, diplomacy and financial independence.”

As part of a team mission exercise, UPA students volunteered at a farming village.

UPA students studied the history of the businesses that comprise the Tongil Foundation and several other businesses that True Parents established. They also learned the purpose of those companies and their current status. The students received a special lecture about basic planning, advertisement, management, finance and taxes, etc. After the lecture, the students became a mock-business owner and analyzed market, sales strategy, sales place, advertising strategy and expected risks. Only the teams that passed the

preparation and project stage could start to buy and sell products. Every day, the students put all of their efforts to bringing good result for the project. Additionally, the students are developing every day through writing finance reports and daily reports to reflect their achievement of that day and to resolve the cause of any failures.

A UPA student engages in the One Man Business activity.

After OMB project, teams of four people formed for company business projects. They established virtual companies such as publications, Café, NGO and online-shopping malls. Currently, UPA students are gathering information and experience from the field, and they are volunteering at the Cheon Bok Gung Church, Incheon Church, Gangdong Church, and Gunpo Church. In order to inherit the received standards of Christianity, they visited other Christian churches and wrote about their practices.

Based on this discussion, UPA students are preparing a cultural performance project. They plan to visit, volunteer and perform at the local churches’ worship services.

UPA students are doing their best to become leaders who can inherit the heart of True Parents and are trying to live up to the standards of the Divine Principle and True Parents’ words.