In this blog post, I will summarize my academic experiences and school activities during high school, examples of my acts of consideration, sharing, and cooperation, as well as my motivation for applying and my career preparation process.
Academic Experiences and Reflections
Having spent part of my childhood living abroad, I was able to listen to and speak English relatively easily, though not quite as fluently as my native language. So, when I returned to Korea to prepare for college entrance exams, I had high expectations for my English scores. However, I soon realized that speaking and listening skills are fundamentally different from the English required for college entrance exams. College entrance exam English required the ability to accurately analyze passages based on grammar and identify key points; I learned through experience that simply being able to speak and listen well was not enough to achieve good results on the test.
Consequently, I decided that to improve my English scores, I needed to develop test-taking strategies in addition to my existing language skills. Just as being proficient in Korean does not always guarantee good scores in Korean language exams, having a certain level of English proficiency does not automatically lead to higher test scores. I started by analyzing my wrong answers. When I collected and organized the questions I had gotten wrong on the test, my weaknesses became clear.
The analysis revealed that I lacked the ability to quickly identify the main topic and keywords in a passage, which often led me to skim the text and answer incorrectly. Therefore, I made it a core strategy to practice quickly finding the “main topic” and “keywords” so that I could immediately connect them to the questions. Specifically, I repeatedly practiced reading various types of English passages—such as textbook passages, English literature novels, and documentary-style passages—in their entirety and quickly summarizing the main ideas and key words.
By consistently applying this learning method to address the root cause of my struggles, my English grades improved rapidly, and the training in identifying key points in passages also greatly helped me solve problems in Korean and other subjects. I believe that by identifying and resolving the root causes of my problems through this personalized learning approach, I was able to improve not only my grades but also my problem-solving skills and concentration.
Major School Activities and Reflections
My participation in the English newspaper club played a major role in providing me with opportunities to consistently use and express myself in English. There was a club at school that produced an English-language newspaper, and I joined to keep my English skills sharp and to put the language into practical use. The process of creating a 3–5-page English newspaper every month was a more complex and systematic task than I had anticipated.
First, we decided on a theme for the monthly newspaper and selected topics to cover. Since it was an English-language newspaper, we had to brainstorm various ideas related to English, and we needed to discuss the direction of our reporting, prepare a list of questions, and determine our focus. Exchanging ideas through a series of meetings naturally served as listening and speaking practice, and since we formulated questions and answers in English during these meetings, the frequency of my actual English usage increased.
To gather material, I observed daily life both inside and outside the school, searched for interesting topics, and took photos and conducted interviews, which gave me opportunities to communicate with many people. Through the process of creating content myself, I was able to experience firsthand the power of culture and the influence of content, and I felt a great sense of fulfillment in creating that power with my own hands.
Participating in a pop song performance during the school festival was also one of my most significant school activities. Since I’ve always loved pop music and am known for being a good singer, my friends and teachers recommended me for the festival preliminaries. Fortunately, I won and made it to the finals. I felt a lot of pressure because I had to perform a pop song with English lyrics naturally on stage, so I needed plenty of practice to overcome my nerves.
Fortunately, a friend who played the guitar well joined me, which helped ease the pressure, and we prepared for the stage by practicing tirelessly together. During the roughly four-minute performance, I poured all the passion I had built up through practice into the stage, and after the performance, I felt a great sense of fulfillment knowing that the number of friends interested in my singing and enjoying pop songs had increased, effectively allowing me to promote and spread my content on my own.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
In my sophomore year of high school, our class set a goal of winning the talent show to create unforgettable memories on our school trip. Since we often watched K-pop videos and danced during breaks, we decided to bring that energy to the talent show. We divided roles—such as a friend who could dance well, one to mix the music, and another to prepare costumes—and prepared systematically for the performance.
In particular, we chose a group dance where the movements had to be perfectly synchronized, and we practiced rigorously starting two months before the field trip. The friend who was a good dancer learned the choreography and taught it to us, and we all enjoyed participating together as we saw our skills improve. During practice, I suggested that if we filmed and shared the video, we could show our performance to more people.
With our teacher’s permission, we filmed the rehearsal process and our performance during the school trip, edited the footage, and uploaded it to YouTube. Thinking the video might attract international attention, I added English subtitles before publishing it. Our K-pop performance, created through passion and teamwork, led us to win the talent show, and the video we uploaded to YouTube unexpectedly garnered significant interest from international viewers, even becoming a popular video.
Through this experience, I truly felt the power of cooperation and teamwork, and I learned that by creating and sharing content based on that power, we can expand our cultural influence. In the process of preparing for our goal together with my friends and sharing the results, I naturally learned the importance of consideration, dividing roles, and resolving conflicts.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
To enhance the influence of Korean content in the global market, I aim to fully master English, the international lingua franca, and gain a broad understanding of world cultures. Alongside my major studies, I intend to create world-leading Korean content culture through various hands-on attempts at content creation. Having lived in an English-speaking country as a child, I possess the ability to converse fluently in English, and I plan to further develop my content creation skills based on this foundation.
Within the scope of my student life, I have produced content in English by writing articles and conducting interviews for an English newspaper club, and I have experience introducing Korean culture on YouTube under my school’s name. Additionally, my experience producing videos of my friends’ K-pop performances to introduce them to foreigners serves as practical experience in content dissemination.
As a college student, I intend to build upon these experiences and contribute to the creation and dissemination of high-quality content showcasing Korea’s rich culture. In particular, I envision creating content that introduces Korea’s traditional culture to various countries and working as a professional in the tourism and cultural content industries. With determination and passion, I will achieve this goal and become a leader who enhances the value of Korea’s cultural industry.
