In this blog post, I’ll summarize how my study habits, broadcasting club activities, and volunteer experiences during high school influenced my career choice.
Reflections on My Academic Experience
As a student who relied heavily on workbooks, I found my grades plateauing at one point, which led me to reflect on what I was doing wrong. I realized that clinging solely to workbooks was the problem, and I came to the conclusion that textbooks are, in fact, the ultimate workbooks and study guides. Since workbooks and exam questions are based on textbooks, I realized it was crucial not to overlook the fundamentals.
From that point on, I began reading textbooks more than anything else and paying close attention to every single sentence in them. In particular, I carefully read every single supplementary explanation written alongside the textbook—commonly called “side notes”—without skipping a single one. These side notes explained the meanings of words I didn’t immediately understand and described how the material I was memorizing would be applied in the future, helping me stay on track with my studies.
When studying, it’s easy to get so caught up in memorizing that you lose sight of the bigger picture. That short-sighted approach led to pitfalls—such as forgetting information during exams or lacking the mental framework needed for application problems. That’s why I focused on understanding the context and flow through the textbook and made a conscious effort not to overlook any part of the explanations. As a result, I was able to solidify my grasp of the fundamental concepts before tackling workbooks, and when applying what I’d learned, I could think more clearly by leveraging that foundational knowledge.
As knowledge with a clear flow—rather than fragmented bits—took root in my mind, organizing information became much easier, and I developed the ability to find connections when learning new concepts. In this way, I was able to overcome a crisis where my grades had plateaued. Although I struggled for a while after losing my motivation to study, by sticking faithfully to the textbook, I was able to break out of that crisis and truly realize the importance of fundamentals.
Major School Activities and Reflections
As soon as I entered high school, I remembered the voice that had resonated over the PA system during the entrance ceremony, and driven by a desire to become that voice myself, I applied to the broadcasting club. At first, I hoped to have a voice like a voice actor’s, but my voice was low and somewhat muffled, so I was far from the typical voice actor’s ideal. Instead, I shifted my role to that of a writer and remained in the broadcasting club.
When I first started working as a writer, I had many concerns about whether I could actually pull it off. After all, my only writing experience had been from childhood, and I had never written a broadcast script before. However, as I began to view things through the eyes of a “messenger,” my sensitivity and expressive abilities developed naturally. I constantly pondered how to capture the atmosphere of a snowy day in words and how to convey news of accidents in a gentle yet concise manner, writing and revising my work accordingly.
At first, even writing a three-page script felt overwhelming, but as I kept writing, the things I wanted to express grew. My desire to share what I saw and felt with others grew so strong that I actually began to worry about having too much to write about. As I fulfilled my role as a writer, I developed a deep interest in and affection for broadcasting, and naturally began to seriously consider a career in this field.
Another turning point was the club presentation. At an event where we watched videos created by various clubs and shared each other’s work, I felt acutely just how inadequate my own skills were. Seeing the outstanding works made me keenly aware of the gap in quality, and I resolved that if given another opportunity, I would fully immerse myself in the project. From that day on, I decided to prepare more actively, dreaming of a career in journalism and broadcasting.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Collaboration, and My Reflections
I couldn’t confidently say that I had much experience helping other students or engaging in collaborative activities due to my involvement with the broadcasting club. While some argued that producing broadcasts to share school news was a form of service in itself, I viewed it less as pure service and more as something I worked hard on simply because I enjoyed it. Furthermore, it was rare for us to produce outstanding results—so much so that I felt embarrassed to call the broadcasts themselves a true collaboration.
Therefore, the activity I truly valued and participated in consistently was the on-campus cleaning volunteer work held every Saturday morning. This club was a group formed voluntarily by students, and we took charge of cleaning areas that were usually neglected—such as the school backyard, the area around abandoned buildings, and the stairways and walkways. It was a group of friends who deeply cared about our school, coming together to clean every nook and cranny.
After finishing the cleanup, I was always filled with a sense of pride. It brought me great joy to see the school I loved become visibly cleaner and to watch my friends enjoy using those spaces. Although I had been involved in volunteer work since middle and elementary school, it was only then that I truly realized the joy of service. Even now, putting down my pen for a while on weekends to tidy up a corner of the school remains a cherished habit of mine.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
My dream is to become someone like “salt”—essential to people’s daily lives. I don’t want to simply go with the flow of the world; I want to be a person who embodies essential values. This metaphor connects to my career goal of becoming a broadcast writer. I believe that while a broadcast writer remains behind the scenes, they play a central role in anchoring a program, and through appropriate intervention and guidance, can have a meaningful impact on people.
I also constantly reflect on the risks inherent in the media. I am wary of the fact that if excessive sensationalism or content that diverges from the truth is packaged in an appealing way, it can be accepted at face value and become harmful propaganda. While remaining vigilant against such risks, I want to create authentic programming that gives people dreams and hope. I aim to produce programs that offer small comfort and courage to those who are struggling and exhausted, and that show them a broader world to convey the message, “Your world is not the only one.”
That is why I have chosen the path of formally studying broadcasting. Rather than simply joining a broadcasting station to learn through experience, I believe it is important to enroll in the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting to learn systematically from the ground up. Once I enter college, I plan to build my academic foundation and grow by witnessing and experiencing diverse real-world settings firsthand through activities in the broadcasting club and volunteer work.
Ultimately, I want to become a documentary writer and create programs that offer viewers new perspectives based on my observations and experiences in unique places. My specific plan is to thoroughly study both theory and practice in my major, while broadening my range of subject matter and perspectives by engaging with diverse people and situations through club activities and on-site volunteer work. I believe that as these experiences accumulate, I will grow into a writer with a more responsible and compassionate outlook.
