In this blog post, I will reflect on my academic efforts, extracurricular activities, acts of kindness, and personal growth during my high school years.

Let’s Make Ourselves, Not Others, Our Competitors

Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed, I turn to a video of ballerina Kang Soo-jin from the TV show *Knee-Poking Master*. Kang Soo-jin is the first South Korean ballerina to gain international recognition and is regarded as a unique cultural treasure, both in Korea and around the world. In that program, she calmly recounted how she, having been born and raised in Korea, was able to rise to such heights. As I listened to her story, one part stood out most to me: “I had no time to worry about others; competing with myself was the only thing that mattered.” When she entered a world-renowned ballet school where she couldn’t speak the language or understand the food, what drove Kang Soo-jin—who was overwhelmed by the pressure—was not comparing herself to others, but the strength she found in keeping her promise to herself and practicing endlessly. Seeing that, I reflected deeply on my own life.
Up until then, while studying, I had been overly preoccupied with questions like, “Is someone studying harder than me?” or “Is someone spending more time studying than me?” I would feel jealous if someone suddenly started doing well in their studies, and I would fret constantly about my grades dropping. As a result, I naturally ended up feeling a lot of stress from things unrelated to my studies. Studying while constantly worrying about others gave me stomachaches.
But after hearing ballerina Kang Su-jin’s words, I realized something: I needed to keep my promise to myself and stop worrying about others. So from that moment on, I stopped worrying about how others were studying or where I stood in the rankings; I focused solely on my own study situation. I planned for today—not tomorrow—and concentrated on what I needed to study that day. As a result, my mind became at ease, and I was able to study with a much lighter heart and mind. It was then that I realized the importance of focusing on my own studies and maintaining a calm mindset no matter the situation. Thanks to that, I was able to enjoy my time preparing for exams, and I’m still doing so today.

My Encounter with the Teacher Who Made Me Think for the First Time While Reading

I loved reading, but I always read books just to write book reports; I rarely read them simply to enjoy them. However, my life changed after meeting a college student mentor.
At the time, I had applied for a mentoring program at my school. The mentoring program connected college students with high school students, helping them with study methods and facilitating communication, so that the college students, as seniors, could guide the high school students. Through that program, I met a wonderful mentor. He majored in Social Education and was extremely knowledgeable about history and literature. And above all, his “perspective” was different.
Up until then, I had been in the habit of summarizing the plot whenever I read a book, thinking I had to write a book report. But my mentor advised me not to read that way, urging me to literally immerse myself in the book. At first, I didn’t really understand what she meant. I didn’t know what else there was to reading besides grasping the content. But after I strongly empathized with a character in a book just once, I realized, “Ah, this is what reading a book is all about.” From then on, I began to make an effort to understand the characters. As I encountered countless characters in books, I developed my understanding by discussing those encounters with my teacher. As a result, the things I could understand gradually increased, and I began to find a wide variety of things interesting. I came to understand people I had previously struggled to understand, and I came to understand the world. As a result, reading became more enjoyable, and furthermore, meeting people and studying also became more fun.
I feel that this was the most meaningful time for me because I had the opportunity to meet a great teacher, which allowed me to study and think in an enjoyable way.

Attending lectures to learn more and communicate with more people

Another enjoyable experience was something that happened while participating in the “Lecture Club.”
Our school has a lecture club, which was created with the aim of seeking out and acquiring knowledge that cannot be obtained through the school curriculum. I found the process of absorbing new knowledge to be enjoyable, and by joining the lecture club, I was able to attend a variety of lectures in person. These days, there are many lectures and related websites not only for teenagers but also for the general public. We made good use of those sites, which allowed us to gain new knowledge.
Through this experience, I realized that seeking out knowledge is incredibly enjoyable. Rather than just sitting passively and listening, going out, engaging with the content, and asking questions was a truly great way to gain knowledge. Additionally, being able to communicate with so many people was a delightful experience. The lecture hall was a place where people like us, who were eager to explore, gathered, and there, people of all ages and genders communicated with one another.

Starting a Volunteer Activity to Organize and Clean Books

As I began to love books, I started visiting the library frequently. Going there to look at and read books gave me a lot to think about and brought me joy. Then, one day, I suddenly noticed that the books were getting dirty. The popular books, in particular, were dirty, and some were even torn. I brought them to the librarian, but there were far too many for her to handle alone. I used to bring the torn books to the teacher whenever I found them, but then I thought, “Instead of just doing that, why don’t I help out too?”
So, I carved out time during lunch and evening breaks to work with the teacher on book repair. At first, I didn’t have enough time, but as I got used to it, I became skilled at wrapping and taping the books, allowing me to repair a large number of them in a short time. We started from the very beginning, and now we’ve almost finished going through them all—and we’re starting over from the beginning again.
There were two things I realized while handling and repairing those books. First, there are truly a lot of books out there. People have a strong desire to acquire knowledge and to share the knowledge they already possess. That’s why novels and books on various subjects keep coming out endlessly. While organizing the books, I had the chance to handle such a wide variety of them. These were books I would never have seen if I hadn’t been organizing them. From books on education to those on science and theories I knew little about, the selection was truly diverse. It was a time when I realized just how many books there are in the world. And the second thing was the “sense of fulfillment” I felt while volunteering. Occasionally, while organizing books, I’d see friends happy to find a book they’d previously had torn pages in now neatly organized, or hear someone whisper how good it felt to touch a book wrapped in a beautiful cover. Every time that happened, I felt a sense of pride. I realized that even if no one explicitly thanked me, seeing others enjoy what I’d done brought me happiness.

My parents, who showed me how to live with composure

The people who influenced me the most during my childhood were my parents. My parents faced a major crisis when I was in kindergarten. The lingerie shop they ran had to close. The economy suddenly took a turn for the worse, and as neighboring merchants shut down their shops, foot traffic dried up. The business, which had been struggling to survive, eventually went under. Naturally, things became increasingly difficult for my parents. My mother, who had run her own shop, had to go work for someone else, and my father had to move to the countryside to work on construction sites. We moved to a smaller house, and even though we were too young to fully understand what was happening, my siblings and I made a pact not to cry because our family was struggling.
But even in the midst of all that, my parents quietly endured and carried on. My father, in particular, was a pillar of strength. He worked calmly day after day and sent every penny of his daily wages home without keeping a single cent for himself. Every night, he would call us to remind us to take good care of our mother, to eat, clean, and study on our own, and to start the next day with a cheerful attitude. For us, receiving my father’s call at night was a routine. If my father had ever shown signs of hardship or fatigue and simply left us to fend for ourselves back then, we—and my siblings—would not be here today. And my mother always put on a smile, no matter how difficult things were. Thanks to the influence of both of them, I was able to grow up upright and healthy.

A childhood that showed me the many ways of living

As a child, living in the market district, I saw many different kinds of people. All sorts of things happen there. It’s a place where people live amidst thefts and fights. And I really loved that because those elements were woven into literature. Books contained those aspects of life, and they served as a reflection of my childhood—a time that was difficult yet joyful. That is why I decided to apply to the Department of Korean Language and Literature. I want to study literature that embodies life.

The desire to study literature infused with life

I have just one plan for after I enroll: I want to study literature properly. First, I will invest a lot of time in reading books. I believe that is the very first thing I need to do. Second, I want to learn various ways of reading literature through my classes and hone the skills to express literature in diverse ways. That is why I aspire to become someone who can think and feel in a variety of ways. Third, I want to study while experiencing diverse aspects of life. I don’t want to limit myself to just reading books; I want to gain diverse experiences by volunteering, interacting with people who love or dislike books, and working part-time jobs. I believe these diverse experiences will serve as a foundation for appreciating literature, just as recalling my childhood brought me joy when I first started reading.