In this blog post, I will summarize my experiences and lessons learned, focusing on the efforts I put into my studies during high school, my participation in school activities, and examples of my consideration and cooperation.
Efforts Dedicated to Academics
In my sophomore year of high school, it was common for other schools to offer essay writing classes to prepare for college entrance exams. However, since our school did not provide any preparatory education for essay writing, I decided to submit a proposal along with my friends. Our proposal was to hold essay writing classes in the evenings, after the seventh period of regular classes. Our proposal was actually accepted, and an essay writing class was established, open to interested students. An external instructor was invited to teach the class, and since we were able to participate in a small, elite preparatory group, it was an efficient program. Because my friends and I had actively voiced our opinions to create this preparatory class, we participated more enthusiastically than anyone else. We formed our own essay study group of five students, where we used materials from the class and borrowed reference books to conduct in-depth study sessions. During this process, we also peer-reviewed the essays we wrote. Reading each other’s work in a group led to greater improvement in our writing skills than writing alone. We also submitted our final essays during class and asked for feedback. The external instructor who taught our essay writing class at the time was very passionate; he provided individual feedback on each of our essays and sent his responses via email. Thanks to this support, we were able to consistently attend the essay writing class for two semesters. Additionally, we compiled materials received during class, notes organized through our study group, and materials collected individually into a comprehensive essay portfolio. I bound these materials into a file so I could pull them out whenever needed to reread them, and I reviewed them repeatedly when tackling similar topics. I also made various efforts, such as typing out the most important core themes or potential exam questions separately and organizing them, as well as writing summaries in a format that was easy for me to read. The results of these efforts were all put to use in my college entrance exam preparation.
Meaningful School Activities
During the first semester of my senior year of high school, a notice was posted at school. It announced that a school-wide debate competition would be held to select a team to compete in the national debate tournament. The process involved each class forming a team and voluntarily recruiting participants, followed by scheduling grade-level debates open to the entire student body. The team ultimately selected from this competition received the grand prize and was given the opportunity to advance to the provincial competition, which opened the door to the national competition. I wasn’t originally a student who had a strong interest in debate or had prepared for it. However, I understood that debate involves presenting one’s own opinion on a specific topic and persuading the audience through arguments and rebuttals. At the time, I had been studying essay writing for over a year, starting in my sophomore year of high school. While I was taking classes, I had also been participating in a long-term study group with several friends, which allowed me to delve deeply into various topics. Having engaged in in-depth study on social issues, current affairs, ethical dilemmas, and legal matters, I was accustomed to presenting my own arguments and supporting evidence on any given topic. So, I began preparing for the debate competition with the mindset that writing essays, participating in study groups, and engaging in debates were all interconnected. Since debate competitions typically involve teams of two, I teamed up with a friend I had been studying with. To prepare for the competition, we started reviewing the essay portfolios we had built up over time. While reviewing the material we had studied in the past, we began organizing our opinions and evidence regarding specific topics. This time, instead of writing them down, we practiced expressing these organized points verbally. We thought about how to effectively convey the same content to persuade our audience, and we practiced refuting arguments and making our own points by adjusting our speaking speed, intonation, and emphasis. We also monitored each other’s performances. We offered advice to help correct speaking styles and habits, and we conducted group mock debates with students from other teams. In particular, these mock debates significantly improved our skills. While practicing only within our own team resulted in one-on-one debates, debating against other teams allowed multiple people to exchange arguments and counterarguments, effectively simulating the actual competition. Facing unexpected rebuttals and having to offer opinions on unprepared topics helped us develop quick thinking skills. After practicing for over three months, we competed in the school competition and won the Grand Prize. When the team that had originally won the Grand Prize withdrew, our team was selected to advance to the provincial competition. We performed well at the provincial competition and secured a spot in the national competition. Although we did not ultimately place at the national competition, the process of preparing and striving toward our goal was a deeply formative experience that helped us grow significantly.
Practicing Consideration and Cooperation
During my school years, I dreamed of becoming a teacher and held great respect for the teachers I encountered at school. I realized the immense effort teachers put in to listen to and understand the stories of every student in a class, given the diversity of students within a single classroom. In my senior year of high school, our homeroom teacher was someone who truly deserved our respect. Not only did she counsel each student individually, but she also showed continuous interest in our individual career plans. So, as the class president at the time, I tried my best to assist her whenever I could. Our homeroom teacher was unassuming and always worked behind the scenes to realize true education. Knowing this about her, I wanted to repay her in some way, so I helped organize a Teacher’s Day event. At the time, students in each class held meetings to plan Teacher’s Day celebrations, but our class decided to go above and beyond by writing heartfelt letters to express our gratitude. I held meetings with my classmates to gather ideas and started a project two days in advance to surprise our teacher. So, the day before the event, my classmates and I placed arrows leading from the school’s main gate all the way to our classroom. On the day of the event, our teacher followed the arrows to reach the classroom and expressed her gratitude to us. As soon as she opened the door and stepped inside, we presented her with the letters we had prepared together, along with handmade cookies and cakes. Most importantly, as we handed her the letters one by one, we conveyed our sincere gratitude. Seeing how genuinely moved our teacher was by this event, which we all participated in together, we shed tears alongside her. We felt a deep sense of fulfillment from the event we had prepared over several days through cooperation and consideration, and we realized just how joyful it is to join forces to bring joy to someone and express our gratitude.
