Songgokians in 2021

Please introduce yourself briefly!

Hello, I am Yeo Seong-ik, a 15th grader currently attending the Department of Tourism, Kyunghee University. I was admitted to my alma mater through the entrance exam for the 2015 academic year. Since 2016, I applied for a teaching job in the Department of Tourism and was approved.

Tell us about your first impression of Songgok Tourism High School. My first impression of Songgok Tourist High School was awe-inspiring. The appearance of Songgok Tourism High School, seen from the crosswalk opposite the school, looks a bit unusual because the school has a unique structure on a steep hillside. The internal system is also complicated by connecting several schools. Still, I thought it was a school with a long history. On the first day of student practice, the cherry blossoms bloomed beautifully. It was nice to think that the students could enjoy the cherry blossoms in the back garden on the side of the school grounds every year.

What was the most memorable thing you did while at Songgok Tourism High School?

The most memorable thing was that I had classes with my friends in class 5 of the first grade at Songgok Tourism High School and gave life guidance such as ordinances and endings. I took charge of general tourism courses and took turns in classes 5th and 6th of the first grade. In the class course, I learned the importance of encouraging students to participate and considering all students, not just specific students. In addition, the scenes of students huddling together to talk to us, the student teachers, during the breaks are most memorable. We were in the temporary teachers’ room on the 5th floor, and they came up from the first floor out of breath.

I am curious about your high school life.

I remember entering high school and almost studying at school all three years. I woke up early every day. After all, I had to go to school by 07:00 because I had 0th period. In period 0, I read or did what I wanted to do before the morning ordinance. We had morning classes from 08:00 to 11:00. During lunchtime, the school broadcasted English lectures to improve our listening ability on the air. After lunch, we had classes again until 16:00. Until 18:00, students are obliged to take after-school classes by instructors on the outside, such as basic essay writing or state-run courses. After an hour of dinner time, night self-study continued from 19:00 to 23:00, which is for 4 hours, so it was close to midnight when I always came home, washed up, and lay down on my bed. The club relieved the stress of studying by entering a baseball club that had nothing to do with admission. The school called for self-study when the vacation came and conducted self-study from 09:00 to 17:00 except for weekends. I think I became a greasy grind or a study bug for three years in high school.

Please tell me what classes you take in college and your activities.

We want to take university classes registering for courses like the high school credit system. It has recently emerged as a hot topic, so students can take the classes they want. I am a tourism major, so when I was in the first and second grades of college, I took liberal arts and majored in tourism. Liberal arts classes consisted of human value exploration, civic education, writing, and English classes at Kyung Hee University. Tourism majors consisted of tourism academy theory, air transport industry theory, hotel industry management theory, and tourism strategy management theory. After I went to the military, I majored in economics. I took economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, financial engineering, and information economics. As for the club at school, I went to Worldview, a travel club, and had a lot of fun traveling in Korea. For off-school activities, I worked as a ‘Korea’s Probono,’ Workaholic, an ambassador for Walker Hill Hotel Seoul, Shinhan Bank’s college student ambassador, an intern at Haevichi Hotel and Resort, and an intern at DB Financial Investment’s compliance monitoring part.

Lastly, please say anything or advice to students who want to go to school or get a job!

What I want to say most is that no experience is useless. Everything students experience, whether they graduate from high school or get a job, can be a great asset in their future lives. Finally, we live intending to have an excellent job in a high-quality workplace. It is a common goal for students in humanities or specialized high schools. So, I want to say the importance of determining the moment of choice, setting a firm plan, and preparing for it.

Baek Ga-gyeong