In this blog post, I will summarize the content of my personal statement, which focuses on the academic efforts I made during high school, my extracurricular activities both on and off campus, and my experiences practicing consideration and cooperation.
Academic Efforts and Learning Experiences
I consistently worked hard to fully understand my life science courses starting in my freshman year of high school, but I struggled with the units on the human body. While topics related to animals, plants, and ecosystems were relatively straightforward, it was not easy to accurately grasp the inner workings of the human body. So, while searching for materials that explained these concepts in detail, I came across “lecture notes” taken from an online course. These notes included detailed explanations written by the teacher—even for those who hadn’t attended the lectures in person—as well as illustrations and diagrams to aid understanding, which were extremely helpful in grasping the difficult concepts.
Among the most challenging units were the structure and function of the heart, as well as antigen-antibody reactions and how the immune system works. To help me understand these topics, the lecture notes contained detailed illustrations of the heart and explanations of the functions of each atrium and ventricle. Reading them repeatedly made the material easier to grasp, allowing me to delve deeper into the textbook content. I also came across “lecture comics,” which, like the lecture notes, explained the lecture content in an easy-to-understand way but were visualized in comic form rather than as text, which further aided my understanding.
Looking at the illustrations in the comics rather than just reading the text made it feel as though I were actually watching the lecture, which enhanced my understanding. Through these comics, I learned about the transport of nutrients and the digestive process, the composition and circulation of blood, the structure of the respiratory system and respiratory movements, gas exchange and transport, and cellular respiration and energy utilization. Detailed explanations were provided in speech bubbles attributed to the teacher at key points, allowing me to deepen my understanding as I read. It was particularly beneficial that even seemingly dry topics—such as the production and excretion of waste products, the structure of excretory organs and the urinary tract, the reception of stimuli and sensory organs, the transmission of stimuli and characteristics of the nervous system, and the role of hormones in maintaining homeostasis—could be learned in an engaging way through the comic.
School Environmental Activities: Improving Flower Beds and the Trash Area
Our school had a weekly environmental studies class, which gave us the opportunity to directly engage in learning activities from the textbook and hands-on experiences. In these classes, we covered the characteristics, problems, and solutions related to air, water, and soil pollution, and we went beyond mere academic study to participate in group activities aimed at improving environmental issues in our immediate surroundings. I especially looked forward to these environmental studies classes, and as part of a class-wide project, I proposed and carried out improvements to the school flower beds and the trash disposal area.
The reason for improving the flower beds was that, during class, we learned about our individual birth flowers and their meanings, which made us want to plant flowers ourselves; as for the trash disposal area, it needed to be managed more hygienically. At the time, the school’s flower beds were too small and needed to be expanded, so our class began the work of expanding them by building a fence, filling it with soil, and laying stones. After creating the flower bed, we implemented waste disposal and recycling practices to reduce air pollution in the surrounding area.
The existing trash disposal area was poorly managed, with food waste and milk cartons discarded haphazardly. So, we properly arranged the trash cans and participated directly in the recycling process, solving the problems one by one. As a result, soil contamination in the flower bed and air pollution in the surrounding area improved, allowing us to plant flowers just as we had hoped. Each of us decided to prepare and plant the seeds of our birth flowers—which we had looked up based on our birthdates during environmental studies class—and I purchased flower seeds, planted them, and set up a sign with the meaning of my flower.
The flower bed was filled with seeds planted by my classmates, resulting in 35 signs, and as time passed, we were able to observe the flowers growing.
The flowers we planted in the spring sprouted and bloomed over the course of the semester, and we documented the flowers in full bloom during the summer. When picking and drying some of the flowers that bloomed in August and early September, we made dried flowers under the guidance of our environmental studies teacher to prevent them from spoiling or fading, and we pressed them between sheets of paper to create flower bookmarks. Since we created these items entirely by hand from start to finish, it felt all the more rewarding.
Examples of Practicing Care, Sharing, and Cooperation: Stream Water Quality Improvement Activities
Impressed by our class-wide environmental activities during my freshman year of high school, I participated in group activities to address stream water pollution through Saturday experiential programs during my sophomore year. Since this activity was organized by recruiting volunteers from the entire school, there were many students I had never met before, but as we worked together, we gradually came together as one and formed a strong bond. First, to directly assess the current state of water pollution and usage patterns in the stream, we conducted site visits and took photographs to identify the issues.To publicize the problems we discovered, we created presentation materials, and each group presented the data they had collected so that everyone could understand the situation. After recognizing these issues, we reorganized our teams to address environmental problems, rotating our activity groups to maintain cooperation and strengthen our bonds. Our activities began with regular visits to the stream to pick up trash.The most critical challenge was tackling household waste; since there had been an incident where mallards died after eating trash floating on the water, collecting trash was essential for maintaining the stability of the ecosystem. We collected a certain amount of trash and disposed of it at an incineration facility, while documenting trash that posed serious problems with photographs to preserve as evidence. We compiled the collected data and reported it to the local district office in a single submission; our efforts led to tangible results, such as the dispatch of a dedicated environmental improvement task force.In particular, we were able to conduct more productive activities by collecting water samples from the Gulpo and Anyang Streams—our areas of operation—and analyzing water quality by measuring dissolved oxygen levels, biochemical oxygen demand, and suspended solids. Through this process, we learned how to collaborate with others and developed a sense of responsibility. Furthermore, by identifying problems, proposing solutions, and implementing them, we gained a deep appreciation for the importance of taking action.
