Seongdong-gu Forms Youth Mentor Group Through Online Interviews

Formed a 62-Member Mentor Group Through Online Interviews to Support Learning Guidance and Monitoring for Vulnerable Youth

Online Interview

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) is promoting the ‘2020 Youth Mentoring Project’ through non-face-to-face ‘LANtoring’ via online methods, including online interviews, due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.

Now in its fifth year, the ‘Youth Mentoring Project’ provides university student mentors to vulnerable youth for academic guidance, career counseling, and self-help group activities, supporting improvements in learning ability, emotional connection, and social skills.

On the 16th, the district, along with the entrusted operating organizations Jump and University of Seoul, conducted non-face-to-face online interviews to select university student mentors. This was based on the judgment that vulnerable youth need more care for their weakened learning and daily life due to COVID-19.

Additionally, youth facilities and local children’s centers in the area, which connect vulnerable youth, participated as interviewers in the online interviews, evaluating the mentors’ qualifications with questions about their attitude toward volunteering.

A district official said, “Although it was our first time conducting online interviews and we had concerns, it was simpler than the face-to-face method we had used before, allowing for more in-depth interviews. University students, being familiar with online environments, seemed to respond more naturally.”

Through this interview, the district formed a group of 62 university student mentors. An additional 108 mentors will be recruited, making a total of 170 mentors who will begin full activities starting in May.

The mentor group will conduct ‘LANtoring (LAN + Mentoring)’ through online LAN connections, including group matching, orientation, academic guidance, and monitoring with 390 vulnerable youth.

Due to COVID-19, Seongdong-gu omitted the usual mentoring activity completion ceremony and instead mailed certificates of completion to about 70 university students who participated as the 4th generation mentors over the past year.

Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “University student mentors gain valuable experience, and youth have a great opportunity to strengthen various competencies through good senior role models. Although the COVID-19 situation posed challenges to project implementation, we expect that online LANtoring will become a new form of mentoring through this innovative attempt.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.