In this blog post, I will summarize my academic experiences and school activities during high school, examples of my consideration and cooperation, and the motivation and career plans that were shaped through these experiences.

Academic Experiences and Reflections

I was deeply shocked when my English grade dropped significantly during the midterm exams of my freshman year of high school. In middle school, I could score over 90 points just by studying from the textbook, but when I prepared for high school exams the same way, I ended up with a score of 60. Upon analyzing the results, I realized the problem was that I had only skimmed the textbook passages superficially. If three units were on the exam, I would read the long passages and simply interpret them, without analyzing them in depth or organizing the vocabulary. My complacency—the belief that simply understanding the material was enough to do well on tests—led to my decline in grades.
To solve this problem, I decided to completely overhaul my English study method. I devised a plan to read each unit’s passages at least three times. The first read was to grasp the overall flow; the second was a careful read with interpretation; and the third was a read where I jotted down unfamiliar words as I went. Right before the exam, I went through the passages two more times—the fourth and fifth times. The fourth time focused on practice problems, such as filling in grammar blanks, and the fifth time involved training to verify the interpretation and grammar just by looking at the text.
Through this process, I organized the meanings of difficult words, the grammatical features of sentences, and sentences that were hard to interpret into a notebook. In my notebook, I wrote down interpretations, grammar points, and examples of sentences I frequently got wrong, and I reviewed and memorized them whenever I had a spare moment—such as on my way to school in the morning, during breaks, or at lunchtime. People around me would sometimes ask why I was carrying something around and studying even during lunch, but I didn’t let their stares bother me and kept repeating the material consistently to achieve my goal.
Thanks to this repetitive study, I was able to minimize repeating the same mistakes, and my grades recovered from the 60s to the 90s. Through this experience, I learned how important systematic and repetitive study is—going beyond mere understanding. I also realized the necessity of self-directed learning as I personally witnessed how small habits and consistent effort lead to results.

Writing About Major School Activities and Reflections

Since I’ve loved games since childhood, I joined the gaming club in high school. At first, the club was focused purely on socializing, so we often just played games whenever we met. However, around the second semester of my freshman year, I felt that continuing this way was a waste of time, so I proposed introducing an educational element to our club activities. I believed that if we shifted our focus from just playing to researching and creating games, it would alleviate the concerns of those around us and allow us to grow as individuals.
We drafted an action plan outlining the club’s goals and specific implementation strategies, posted it in the club room, and consistently referred to it as we carried out our activities. We decided to first learn programming languages, then master game graphics and design, and finally assign specific roles to plan and develop both 2D and 3D games. We designated a presenter to lead group study sessions where we read textbooks together, and we continued studying until everyone passed the programming certification exams.
As our scope of study expanded, we also took on the challenge of learning the latest programming languages. We studied how Go excels in concurrency handling, Rust is useful for memory safety, Kotlin is gaining popularity in the Android environment due to its concise syntax, and Swift is well-suited for iOS app development. Since each language has different characteristics and areas of application, the team members’ roles naturally divided as we studied all four languages simultaneously.
Specifically, we divided roles among a 3D graphics artist, a game designer, and a game programmer, and we developed our collaboration skills through team projects. I was primarily in charge of game programming, where I helped finalize the detailed design of a 2D game proposed by the game designer through team meetings and then implemented it. I designed a game structure centered on defeating monsters and felt a sense of accomplishment as I implemented the start and end buttons along with the basic UI. Through this process, I learned that a project is truly completed when planning and implementation work in tandem.

Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Collaboration, and My Reflections

Around the time of our club’s second anniversary, we had the opportunity to participate in a joint design contest hosted by the school. The assignment was to design a T-shirt using Hangul, and our club decided to take on the challenge based on the experience we had accumulated using graphic design tools. At first, we were mostly motivated by a desire to try it out as a hobby, but our confidence gradually grew through brainstorming sessions.
We settled on a concept that personified the consonants and vowels of Hangul, aiming for a design that gave the impression of these elements coming to life. Rather than simply relying on the software’s features, we refined our ideas by gathering input from various members and sought advice from a friend with a keen eye for design to improve our drafts. As the idea passed through the hands of many, it became increasingly sophisticated.
The final design turned out to be simple yet practical—a design anyone would want to wear—and we enhanced its visual appeal by using bright colors that complemented the black T-shirt. We submitted our entry and, after a month of evaluation, won the Grand Prize. Later, as we experienced the process of actually bringing the T-shirt to market, we felt the rewards of collaboration and realized how much we could learn from the hands-on production process.
Through this competition, I learned how to coordinate opinions within a team and divide roles while leveraging each other’s strengths. I also developed humility and flexibility as I incorporated expert advice to refine our design. Ultimately, I deeply experienced the joy of transforming individual ideas into a team’s collective strength and the sense of fulfillment that comes from achieving a shared goal.

Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans

The subjects I focused on during high school were computer science and English. Computer programming, in particular, was the center of my interest, and I devoted a great deal of time to developing my programming skills by building on my passion for games. Through collaborative experiences in clubs and personal projects, my understanding of development deepened, leading me to develop an interest in mobile game and application development.
After my club activities, I took on the challenge of planning and developing mobile games on my own. Having learned Swift in advance, I designed a mobile application for iOS myself, paying close attention to UI design tailored to the screen layout and information density. This experience required a significant amount of learning, as it demanded a different scope of design skills and usability considerations compared to group projects.
My long-term goal is to grow into a programmer specializing in mobile application development. In particular, I aspire to become a developer who pays meticulous attention to user interfaces. To achieve this, I plan to study mainstream programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, and Python during my college years, while systematically building a foundation in core knowledge areas including data structures and algorithms, server programming, network programming, and databases.
Furthermore, I aim to develop the skills necessary to operate live in commercial services by gaining an understanding of the Linux environment, gaining experience in database development, performing performance analysis and optimization, writing shell scripts, and practicing the implementation of system automation features. Through these preparations, I aim to grow into an engineer who can be immediately deployed in the field, and my ultimate career goal is to become a developer capable of overseeing the entire process—from planning to implementation and service operation—for mobile games and applications.