In this blog post, we explore how to structure a social work academic plan grounded in community-centered thinking and a spirit of challenge.
Writing About Academic Experiences and Reflections
Finding Focus Through Winter Hiking
After finishing my first year of high school, I felt stuck. I was originally the type to study alone, meticulously planning my studies and striving to achieve my goals. However, my excessive ambition led me to create too many plans and assign myself too many tasks, causing immense stress. This stress eventually reached a point where I could no longer study. With so much to do but a growing aversion to studying, and my head aching from the pressure, I finally let go of everything and began hiking in the dead of winter. Through hiking, I learned the principle of ‘selection and focus’. No matter how difficult the climb, taking the next step was what mattered. By walking steadily like that, I could eventually reach the summit. During winter break, winter hiking made me deeply contemplate selection and focus. Having also improved my physical stamina, I began studying through ‘selection and focus’.
Instead of making scattered study plans like before and getting frustrated when I couldn’t follow through, I started studying the fundamentals first. The subject I dedicated the most time to initially was ‘Korean Language’. I believed that excelling in Korean would enhance my comprehension of problems across all subjects and naturally improve my English. I also considered Korean to be the foundation for social studies and science. So, I studied Korean grammar and began improving my contextual understanding by carefully reading non-literary texts, which I was particularly weak in. I also set a manageable daily study goal to boost my sense of accomplishment and make studying enjoyable. Surprisingly, as I studied this way, my Korean scores skyrocketed, and my English scores naturally followed suit. As my grades improved, the sense of accomplishment made studying even more enjoyable. As a result, I can now study for fun rather than obligation.
Major School Activities and Reflections
Sports Club Activities I Never Abandoned, Even When Busy or Tired
When it came time to choose a club in high school, everyone else focused solely on clubs related to college entrance exams. However, I wanted my club activities to be something that, even if slightly removed from studying, could challenge me. I believed that in a school focused solely on academics, I needed to create an outlet through activities that were a little different. That’s why I joined the only sports club in the school.
Through the sports club, I learned both the hardships and joys of group life. Our club gathered once a day on the field for basic physical training to build stamina. At first, it was tough—rushing through lunch, gathering on the field, and exercising while still feeling full. It was physically exhausting, and I often wanted to quit. But because it was group activity, I thought skipping would disrupt the team’s balance and dampen my friends’ spirits, so I persevered. By enduring and sticking with it, my stamina actually improved, and I gained energy from being with my friends. We built deep bonds by encouraging each other during workouts, and we could exercise while energizing one another. The deep friendships formed with my friends were an immense blessing. We all made time amidst our studies for exercise that offered no advantage for college entrance exams. The friendships built through enduring tough workouts while encouraging each other were more special and profound than most people’s. Especially, the sincere conversations we shared during exercise helped build strong friendships and became a source of strength for each other.
Finally, I developed a spirit of challenge. In my first year, through hiking, our main activity, I gained the courage to climb any mountain and the drive to take on challenges. In my second year, I became a core leader of the club, challenging myself to new sports and guiding others. The activity that made us most nervous was scuba diving. We had to collect substantial fees, and it was an activity done underwater. However, the feeling when we all encouraged each other and ultimately succeeded was an experience that fueled my spirit of challenge. Through this club activity, I learned to fight against the urge to prioritize studying and develop a stronger mindset. I met good friends who were always on my side, and by challenging myself with new sports, I cultivated a spirit of challenge.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
Since it was a school predominantly attended by boys, we often prioritized sports day practice over classes and academics. Especially in my sophomore year, since all my classmates had been key players in last year’s competition, even students from other classes predicted our class would win. Consequently, my classmates became overly fixated on preparing for the sports festival. This excessive focus eventually led to complaints from teachers, prompting my homeroom teacher and the head teacher to take drastic measures: a ban on sports festival practice. While other classes practiced, ours had to stay behind doing homework and strictly adhere to every night of self-study. Everyone felt stifled, and that frustration turned into resentment toward the teachers, leading to friction with our homeroom teacher. At first, I too felt hurt that the teachers didn’t seem to understand our feelings. But as vice-class president, I knew well how much the teachers cared for us, so I began to calm the students down. “We’re still students, and it’s true we overdid the practice, so understanding is the right thing to do. If we just show our best side for one week, they’ll understand us,” I reassured them. And I started to reestablish the class rules. Our class was frequently late due to sports, which the teachers pointed out a lot. I compiled that data, created a daily morning time-check chart, and turned it into a graph to prevent my friends from being late anymore. I also reached out individually to help classmates who neglected homework, supporting all 35 students to develop positive classroom attitudes. As a result, our class behavior improved noticeably. Impressed by this change, the teachers lifted the practice ban after just one week. Our class transformed from merely athletic to excelling both academically and athletically.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
I aspire to live a life oriented toward community.
I grew up in a relatively small community, building bonds with neighbors and residents until middle school. Then, I developed a desire to attend a humanities-focused high school, which naturally led me to transfer to a high school in Seoul. This marked both the beginning of a difficult struggle and the start of my dream. High school in Seoul was different from where I had lived before. Individualism, the kind you’d see in newspapers or on the news, was rampant. Students were visibly wary of even their own classmates, afraid they might hinder each other’s studies. Moreover, not long after school started, I was deeply shocked seeing an advertisement on my way home that read, ‘Let’s hang out tomorrow, friend. I have to study today.’ And that’s when I thought: I cannot let my high school years slip away like this.
I believed that while studying is important, people are even more important, and that’s what I was taught. Therefore, even though I was walking the same path as others, I wanted to make slightly different choices. So, I joined a sports club and read newspapers, focusing on broader societal issues and educational problems. This naturally led me to choose the Department of Social Welfare. By learning theories, fundamentals, and numerous case studies about society as a whole, I want to resolve my questions about how our society should develop. I study with the dream of becoming someone who contributes to society. While we currently live in a society marked by academic elitism and intense competition, I believe this too will change. And I aspire to be at the forefront of that change.
