In this blog post, I’ll summarize my academic efforts, school activities, and examples of compassion, generosity, and collaboration during my high school years, along with the insights I gained from them.
Academic Experience and Reflections
Since I was young, I’ve had a deep interest in society and people, and I dreamed of becoming an international NGO activist. I believed that foreign language skills were essential to meeting and helping marginalized people around the world, so I focused my efforts on improving my language proficiency throughout high school. However, my proficiency in English and other languages did not improve easily, requiring consistent effort.
To compensate for my limited expressive abilities and sentence structure skills, I asked questions in class to clarify anything I didn’t understand and formed study groups with friends to study English and German together. By taking turns explaining concepts we didn’t understand and checking each other’s usage of new expressions, our consistent study efforts led to noticeable improvement in our skills, and we were able to experience the joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from learning.
In my sophomore year, I took advantage of classes taught by native speakers to improve my communication skills and vocabulary, which boosted my confidence and encouraged me to actively participate in class presentations. To improve my everyday English and deepen my understanding of English-speaking cultures, I read English-language books and discussed my insights with my group members. Through these books, I realized that when facing various trials and hardships, the will to solve problems on one’s own is more important than relying on others, and this gave me the courage to maintain a consistent and unwavering attitude toward learning English.
I wrote down and memorized useful expressions from various English news articles and reading materials, and as my skills improved, I submitted an essay titled “The Role of Future NGOs” to the school’s English essay contest. My teacher praised my accurate use of tenses, which further boosted my confidence in English. Although learning a foreign language required a great deal of time and effort, I gained the courage and confidence to believe “I can do it” as I mastered new concepts one by one.
Major School Activities and Reflections
During my freshman year, I served as an officer on the school-wide student council, which gave me the opportunity to volunteer and plan events for the school. While preparing various events—such as school festivals, sports day, and college entrance exam cheering events—I worked day and night to gather student feedback and synthesize it to create programs that the entire student body could enjoy together. Throughout this process, I made sure to note even the smallest voices of my peers and reviewed them one by one, which helped me realize the importance of a leader’s sense of responsibility and coordination skills.
I learned that a leader needs the flexibility to listen to team members and coordinate appropriately, rather than making decisions unilaterally. Since I’ve always been interested in volunteer work, I took a leading role in connecting the school with the local community, such as by facilitating a partnership agreement between the school and a local children’s center.
To establish a culture of volunteerism at school, I founded a volunteer club and served as its president. I spent time discussing the scope and nature of volunteer work with classmates who felt uncomfortable with it, helping us discover the meaning of service together. It filled me with pride to know that even small acts could bring joy to someone.
During my sophomore year, I participated in volunteer work to assist Korean immigrants in Russia and, in collaboration with other schools, helped promote a symposium to raise awareness about their dire living conditions. The lives of the people I met in person were extremely difficult, and witnessing their struggles to make ends meet left a deep emotional impact on me. After learning about the situation of elderly men and women who could not return to their hometowns because they could not afford plane tickets, I developed a deeper concern for socially vulnerable people suffering from issues such as refugees, terrorism, and civil wars in the international community.
This experience sparked my interest in human rights advocacy and international NGOs, and it solidified my goal of working for an organization like UNICEF to help the vulnerable around the world. On campus, I consistently ran a volunteer club, made regular donations to Good Neighbors and the Korean Red Cross, and led fundraising efforts for the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, putting the value of sharing into practice alongside my friends.
I also participated in the Wednesday protests in support of the comfort women survivors, gaining experience in remembering historical wounds and speaking out for human rights. Through these activities, I realized that helping others is not a grand endeavor but something that begins with a small act of kindness.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and Reflections
Starting in my freshman year, I volunteered at a local children’s center twice a month. I would visit the center regularly on weekends or days when school ended early to spend time with the children, most of whom came from single-parent families, multicultural families, or foster care—children who had experienced emotional trauma. Believing that opening the children’s hearts was the first step, I made a sincere effort to play with them and listen to their stories.
For children in foster care, I served as a mentor, providing academic and career counseling to help heal their emotional wounds, and I consistently made time to be with them by sharing my talents through activities like teaching ukulele and educational volunteer work. Through this volunteer work, I realized that there are far more lonely and marginalized people than I had anticipated, and I learned that even a small act of kindness can bring joy to someone’s life.
My cheerful and positive personality also served as an asset that allowed me to naturally connect with my peers. When a first-year mentee who was struggling to adjust to school was having a hard time, I introduced them to club activities and the school schedule and offered advice to help them adjust. Through my caring guidance and encouragement, my mentee gradually brightened up and began to enjoy school life.
During my brief time in high school, I learned that the joy of giving is multiplied, and that empathizing with others’ stories as if they were my own is an important attitude toward life. The fact that even a small gesture of care can be a vital source of help for someone has been a great source of motivation for me.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
The path to becoming an international NGO activist—a dream I’ve held since childhood—is closely tied to the efforts I’ve devoted to my academics, school activities, and volunteer work. With a clear goal of helping the marginalized through international work, I have consistently invested in improving my foreign language skills and gaining diverse volunteer experience.
To strengthen my language skills, I asked questions about concepts I didn’t understand in class and studied English and German in study groups. I also gained practical experience through classes taught by native speakers, reading English-language books, and participating in English essay contests. This academic preparation laid the foundation necessary for communicating on the international stage, understanding documents, and conveying the voices of those on the ground.
Through volunteer work and campus activities, I learned organizational management and coordination skills, as well as how to identify and raise awareness of local community issues. Through my work supporting Russian immigrants, I directly confronted the reality that the consequences of international issues often result in the sacrifice of the socially vulnerable, which further solidified my resolve to improve human rights and engage in international relief efforts.
Moving forward, I aim to further develop my expertise in social welfare and international cooperation so that I can contribute to improving the human rights and well-being of vulnerable groups at organizations such as UNICEF or international NGOs. Building on the foreign language skills, field volunteer experience, and organizational management experience I gained in high school, I plan to acquire additional relevant knowledge and practical skills in college to make my dream a reality.
