Recruiting Students for Gangdong-gu 'Mentor School' Participation

Published 14 Feb.2020 08:53(KST)

High School Student Mentors and Elementary/Middle School Mentees Paired 1:1, Meeting Weekly to Grow Together

Students who participated as mentors and mentees are waving their hands as the 2019 Gangdong-gu Mentor School comes to an end.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) is recruiting new mentee students to participate in the peer mentoring program "Mentor School" for the new school semester of 2020.

"Mentor School" is a program where high school student mentors, recommended by their school principals, are paired one-on-one with elementary and middle school mentees to provide mentoring throughout one academic year.

This year, from April to December, meetings will be held once a week on Saturdays for 9 months at the Self-Directed Learning Support Center and Han Young Foreign Language High School. Mentors, who have undergone similar developmental processes in the same region, teach mentees self-study methods and provide counseling on various concerns related to school life such as career paths, college admission, and peer relationships, supporting the mentees' proper growth.

High school mentors also develop character and gain unique experiences through interactions with their juniors.

Mentees are students residing in Gangdong-gu from 5th grade elementary to 3rd grade middle school, and 155 students will be recruited on a first-come, first-served basis from February 17 to March 27.

Applications can be made on the Gangdong-gu Self-Directed Learning Support Center website (http://slc.gangdong.go.kr).

Since its inception in 2011, Mentor School has grown beyond a simple learning organization to become a platform for communication through peer culture such as sharing concerns and exploring career paths, producing a total of 1,702 mentor-mentee pairs over 9 years, establishing itself as a prestigious educational brand of Gangdong.

A high school mentor who completed Mentor School in 2019 said, "As someone who aspires to be a teacher, mentoring volunteer work has become a very happy and meaningful memory. Based on this experience, I want to become a truly good teacher in the future."

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, "Mentor School has established itself as a place of empathy and communication where peers grow their character and learn how to care for others. This 'empathy and communication' is the most valuable virtue that future talents must possess."