In this blog post, I’ll summarize my academic experiences, school activities, examples of consideration and cooperation, and career preparation during my time in high school.
Academic Experiences and Reflections
The academic activity I enjoyed most during high school was debate. Since I’ve always loved speaking and enjoyed organizing and expressing my thoughts, I formed an informal, small-group study group with friends dedicated to debate. We chose one topic each week and varied the debate format accordingly—sometimes we held free-form discussions, and other times we tried pro-con debates or cross-examination debates.
There were four of us in the study group, and we tended to pair up in groups of two with similar outlooks. As a result, when discussing a topic, it was common for two members to naturally take the pro side and the other two to take the con side. For example, when debating South Korea’s strong nationalism and patriotism, two of us—including myself—expressed reservations about excessive patriotism, while the other two defended nationalism.
At first, I was more focused on pushing my own arguments through than on listening to others’ opinions. I spent most of my energy searching for evidence to persuade others and preparing counterarguments; rather than listening and agreeing, I would often be planning my next rebuttal. I gradually came to realize that such an attitude narrowed the scope of our conversations and obscured the original purpose of the discussion.
As one semester, then two, passed, a noticeable change took place in my attitude. By repeatedly encountering different opinions and fully listening to my friends’ perspectives, I developed an attitude that acknowledges diversity and respects different values. I came to accept that people with viewpoints different from my own can still have compelling ideas, and I also cultivated the ability to conduct discussions logically.
In particular, when addressing sensitive topics such as inter-ethnic conflicts, genocide, terrorism, and international wars, I learned how to maintain a balanced perspective without falling into biased views. Through these debates, I moved beyond simply asserting my own opinions to examining evidence, understanding the logic of my opponents, and viewing issues from a broader perspective—a skill that has become a significant academic asset.
Description of Major Extracurricular Activities and Reflections
During my sophomore year of high school, I happened to develop an interest in psychology and counseling, which led me to join the counseling club. The club’s activities went beyond mere theoretical learning; they were experience-based, allowing us to actually conduct life counseling sessions. Although I had never received or provided counseling before, I took on various challenges driven by curiosity and a desire to participate.
The club’s learning approach consisted of reading, presentations, and discussions. Starting with the selection of reading materials, we collaboratively chose books aligned with our learning goals and read works across various fields, such as criminal psychology, social psychology, and family psychology. Based on the selected books, we identified memorable content or discussion topics and proceeded with presentations and discussions.
When I served as the presenter, I had to gather materials, create presentation slides, and explain the content to my peers. Preparing with a sense of responsibility naturally led to self-directed learning, such as looking up concepts I didn’t fully understand and researching case studies. The experience of studying more deeply to prepare for questions marked a major turning point in my attitude toward learning.
In addition to reading and presenting, we also conducted experiments and counseling practice sessions. We designed experiments by applying basic experiments introduced in introductory psychology textbooks, and we practiced applying counseling techniques to one another within the club. Building on these practical experiences, I organized a “Worry Counselor” program for friends outside of school, where we administered the HTP test, MBTI, and career aptitude tests to provide tangible support.
Through this process, I learned to use psychological knowledge not merely as rote memorization but as a tool for understanding people. While designing experiments and conducting counseling sessions, I also realized the importance of ethical considerations and caution. The experience of listening to and helping my peers’ concerns with a sense of responsibility as a counselor provided me with both great fulfillment and academic interest.
Writing About Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
One particularly memorable example from my club activities was a personality counseling event using the MBTI. To ensure we did not treat the psychological assessment as mere entertainment, we received training from the school counseling center and learned about the characteristics of the assessment tools and how to interpret them. We determined that it was important to be aware of potential issues that could arise when using personality assessments and to prepare carefully.
When we invited friends from outside the school to take the personality assessment, we prepared the procedures meticulously. We provided refreshments to create a comfortable atmosphere and instructed participants to answer the questionnaire intuitively within the allotted time. After the tests were administered, we decided not to provide interpretations immediately but to compile the results and present our analysis during the next session.
The reason we did not interpret the results immediately was that hasty judgments could lead to errors, and incorrect interpretations could have a negative impact on the test-takers. We synthesized the test results to identify personality types and characteristics, and consulted with the school counselor to prepare our interpretations as accurately and carefully as possible. We delivered the prepared reports individually to respect each person’s privacy and psychological well-being.
Through this process, I was able to further solidify my attitude of respecting others’ differences. I developed a mindset to understand the personality differences revealed by the assessments not as simple classifications, but within the context of each person’s unique background and circumstances. Furthermore, learning to establish reliable procedures through collaboration and to seek help from external experts served as a good example of cooperation and responsibility.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
Through club activities and my studies in psychology, I naturally developed an interest in a career as a life counselor. As I repeatedly conducted psychological assessments and counseling practicums, the “desire to understand and help people” became the core motivation for my career path, and to support this, I read various books and gained practical experience.
In particular, the book ‘The Enneagram Personality Type Test’ provided an in-depth explanation of the structure of Enneagram theory and the nine personality types, which greatly influenced my development of an attitude aimed at understanding others’ personalities. While the MBTI explains relatively superficial personality tendencies, the Enneagram explains an individual’s fundamental motivations and differences; through this, I gained a new perspective on the people around me and established my goals as a counselor.
I was also deeply influenced by the book ‘The Disease Called Family’. This book explains that family members may not always fully understand us, and it offers methods for objectively examining family relationships and communicating effectively. As someone who was personally struggling with family issues, this book helped me view my family from a new perspective and cultivated an attitude of seeking to understand others’ concerns structurally, rather than reacting solely on an emotional level.
These reading experiences and club activities provided practical help in solidifying my career plans. The process of selecting and reading psychology-related books, internalizing knowledge through presentations and discussions, and applying it through experiments and counseling practice laid the foundation for my professional counseling skills. Furthermore, my experience collaborating with the school counseling center and seeking professional advice led to my resolution to pursue more systematic education and training in the future.
Moving forward, I aim to study psychology in greater depth at the university level to systematically master counseling theory and practice, with the goal of becoming a life counselor equipped with counseling skills applicable in real-world settings. My experiences with reading, presentations, practical training, and external collaborations during high school were the first steps toward that goal, and I will continue to prepare for my career by balancing learning and practice.
