For Sawlians

 written by 20224 Jun Min Ah

THE PRESS: What was your first impression of SAWL?

Vice-Principal Kang Hojin: When I worked as a researcher of foreign languages in Gyeonggi-do educational office, I visited SAWL. My first impression was that the school is like a university campus. After being appointed to SAWL, I was surprised that students keep the school clean. Also, the website for our school was well-organized, and it gave me another good impression of being here. The students were interested in languages and made efforts for the school’s lessons. I am so proud of Sawlians.

PRESS: Do you have any plans for SAWL?

Vice-Principal: Although I’ve started to work here three months ago, I know that various education processes are proceeding in a good way. So, as the vice-principal of SAWL, I will help teachers and students with running the current curriculums well. And, after some more months of being here, if we need something new, I will make that happen.

PRESS: Do you have any wants or requests for Sawlians?

Vice-Principal: I read a book, and there was a quote, “Democracy is about the attitude while living our life, not about political structure. And, a democrat is a person who shows his/her insistence confidently, who can resist a bad and unfair power and who can respect others.”

I think a democrat is a person who has a strong and healthy self. So, I want students to grow up as adults who have strong and healthy selves. That is why in SAWL, there are lots of competitions and stressful things. Then, some students could have stress and bad feelings about themselves. However, when they have good self-esteem, they can grow up as good world citizens. To have a good self, we need to build confidence. The confidence is from following a tiny rule. It is very important. When we try to obey even a tiny rule, we can have strong and healthy selves, and it can make us confident.

Therefore, I want to say to students, “It is important to comply with the rules for your confidence and selves. I want you to grow as great world citizens with your good self.”

PRESS: What are the most important words in your life?

Vice-Principal: There is a poem, “a flower” written by Na Taejoo. From this poem, we can know it is beautiful when we take a close look at a flower on the road. We can realize it is lovely when we look at the flower for a long time. Like this poem, all existences are precious, even tiny ones.

So, it is incorrect to judge a person based on his/her appearance. Sometimes, conflicts can happen. There are lots of ways to handle this situation. When we mistreat it, we can make a fight. However, when we try to handle it well and understand the opponent, we can solve the problem. Also, we can keep a good relationship between the opponent and us. For this reason, I have made efforts not to judge at first sight and understand people. Therefore, I can say “not to judge people at first and try to understand people” are the most important words in my life.