In this blog post, I will summarize and present my academic efforts during high school, school activities, examples of consideration and cooperation, educational environment, and career plans for my application to the Department of Tourism at Kyung Hee University.

Academic Efforts

I grew up in Busan, an international port city teeming with tourists and local attractions. Witnessing Busan’s development as a MICE hub with thriving tourism and convention industries, I decided to pursue a career in the tourism sector and enrolled in a tourism high school. While studying in the Tourism and Convention Department, I took various courses designed to cultivate talent specialized in international conferences, events, and exhibitions. The practical, hands-on education I received in specialized subjects—such as Convention Operations, Tourism Management, Tourism Marketing, and Tourism Event Management—served as a solid foundation for my future career. While these subjects were crucial for my academic progression and career path, what stood out most was that every single one of them was genuinely engaging, making every moment in class a joy. In my first year, I took general tourism courses that covered the various sectors and trends of the tourism industry, as well as the professional mindset required of a tourism professional, which helped me establish a solid foundation for my major and career path. In my second year, I took advanced major courses focused on practical training, and in my third year, I completed a practical course in convention planning. Among the practical courses, I was particularly interested in “Tourism Management Practice,” which covers the travel industry, and “Tourism Marketing,” which deals with advertising and public relations. This was because, within the tourism industry, I primarily wanted to work on planning travel products at a travel agency or organizing travel-related events, exhibitions, and trade shows. As part of the Tourism Management Practice course, I learned practical skills such as travel product development, tour guiding, and IT applications for the travel industry. The process of gathering information, planning budgets, and editing digital data to create travel products ignited my passion to start my own travel agency. While studying Tourism Marketing, I came to view the entire marketing process—from market research to sales promotion—as the crown jewel of the tourism industry. Through this, I defined tourism as a series of steps requiring a clear target audience, information to gain insights, and strategies to effectively advertise that information. This also connected to the work of planning international conferences and events, and I felt a synergy as I took these related courses in sequence.

Campus Activities

Within the Department of Tourism and Convention Management, where I was enrolled, there was a “Convention Planning Club.” Through my participation in this club, I gained experience planning various mock international conferences and exhibitions. Although we sometimes set aside time for club activities on campus to conduct mock planning, our club primarily spent more time going out into the community to actually run events, which I particularly enjoyed. The most memorable events include “Volunteering at the Busan Job Week Flea Market” and “Participating in the Korea MICE Industry Expo.” The flea market volunteer work took place during the Job Week Expo held at a civic park when I was a first-year high school student. This event was planned as part of the “One Team, One Company Partnership Project,” which was implemented under the SME Specialized High School Workforce Development Program. Specifically, it involved high school students being paired with a company to participate in experiential activities. Our club recruited students to take part in these activities, and nine students, including myself, volunteered to plan the details of the flea market volunteer event. To ensure the smooth operation of the event, a company called My Plan was assigned to partner with our team. Company representatives visited our school to hold meetings with our team regarding the event, and it was during these meetings that the idea for a “flea market” booth emerged. Thanks to the efforts of the company representatives to make this a success, the Busan Young CEO Association dispatched an event mentor and provided a promotional booth. While discussing the two-day event with the assigned event mentor, we had many conversations and received helpful advice. Following the mentoring session, we participated in the promotional event by working directly at each booth, guiding visitors and selling merchandise. Having previously only engaged in mock planning, I felt like I had taken a step closer to my dream career when I not only planned the event but also received feedback on its execution.
In the case of the Korea MICE Industry Expo, the event was organized by senior alumni who are already active in the exhibition or incentive travel sectors, and we participated in their event. Seven students were selected from our club to participate in the event and experience career exploration, and I also volunteered to join. Seeing the alumni who had graduated and were currently working in the field during the event made my heart race—it was as if I were looking at my future self. At the booths run by the exhibition management companies operated by our seniors, we had a meaningful time exploring our career paths and receiving detailed explanations about the fields we were interested in and wanted to enter. Through these meaningful experiences in the club, I realized that the future I dream of is not just a dream but a real possibility, constantly being realized right around me.

Consideration and Cooperation

While taking the “Tourism Marketing” course, I was particularly drawn to the fields of public relations and marketing. Even during club activities, I found it fun—almost like a game—to explain and promote products I knew well to customers at the booth I was in charge of. That’s why I applied to become a school ambassador, wanting to promote “what I know well.” After being selected as a school ambassador, I primarily participated in various external events to promote the Tourism High School and assisted with event operations. Additionally, as a promotional model, I posed for photos that were later posted on the school website. Furthermore, I gained a detailed understanding of the school’s history, features, and signature programs, and used this information to create promotional brochures. First, I attended various events and went directly into venues where college admission briefings, parent meetings, and lectures by invited university professors were taking place to take photos. While other students handled tasks like setting out refreshments or adjusting the projector during the event, my main role was photography, so I focused on capturing the essence of each event as best as possible. There was a friend who edited the photos separately, so we collaborated by explaining my photographic intent and the content of the shots. As for modeling for promotional photos, I did this about twice in front of school facilities during my time as a promotional ambassador. It was fun to discuss poses and act out scenes with my teammates while capturing images of students studying passionately or engaging in lively discussions. Above all, when creating the promotional brochure, we all put our heads together to brainstorm ideas, paying close attention to every detail—from the design to the wording—to bring it to completion. When the brochure draft was completed, we held meetings to discuss improvements in an atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration. We worked hard to create a promotional piece that reflected the diverse perspectives of as many students as possible, and when the final product was completed, we were all satisfied and exchanged words of encouragement. It was especially rewarding when our advisor praised it, saying it looked like it had been produced by a professional company.

Educational Background and Career Plans

I attended elementary, middle, and high school in Busan, a city known for tourism, and was raised by my father, an English teacher, and my mother, who works in the trade industry. As they raised me, their only child, they often expressed their hope that I would pursue a career with an international scope that involved frequent travel abroad. In particular, since both my parents are fluent in English, they spoke English at home, which greatly helped me improve my conversational skills. My mother, who works in the trade industry, recommended the booming MICE industry and conventions, and with this in mind, I enrolled in a tourism high school and applied to a university’s tourism department. Among the various fields of the tourism industry, I became interested in travel and aviation rather than hotels or services primarily because I love “travel.” Thanks to my parents’ active support, I have been traveling to Japan on backpacking trips by myself since high school, and I have also gone on long-distance hikes with friends to Jeju Island and Dokdo. As I have an adventurous spirit and enjoy challenges and new experiences, I have decided to work in the travel industry to plan and operate travel packages myself. If I am admitted to the Department of Tourism at Kyung Hee University, I will diligently complete the various theoretical major courses within the department and actively participate in related practical courses. I am particularly interested in the courses on service marketing and tourism storytelling. By studying these subjects, I aim to become a marketer who can develop travel products with distinct themes and narratives that resonate with customers when I create my own travel products in the future. Furthermore, I will make full use of the Cultural Tourism English course and the internship program within the curriculum to prepare for employment at an international travel agency. After securing a job, I will expand my scope of activities to gain practical experience in convention management related to travel events and trade shows. Ultimately, I plan to prepare to start my own travel agency. In particular, I will thoroughly analyze the challenges facing the existing travel industry and conduct market research to plan a new concept in the travel business—one that goes beyond simply providing travel packages and instead operates a business model that effectively integrates “convention services.”