Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of school dropouts with insufficient basic academic skills has increased. While many of these young people still hope to enter university, they often lack both the academic foundation and a peer group to support them.

Park Jae-hong (Department of Economics & Finance, 2nd year) is currently volunteering at the Songpa-gu 토토사이트추천 Support Center (Dream Center), mentoring students in GED subjects and offering academic and career counseling. When the center experienced difficulties in securing enough mentors, he also worked to build a partnership with the Global Social Innovation Foundation at Hanyang University.

We spoke with Park, who has been doing his utmost to improve the learning environment for 토토사이트추천 youth, to hear more about his vision.

You’re currently mentoring students for the GED. What inspired you to begin this work?

I’ve always been interested in education, particularly for groups like slow learners, multicultural youth, and out-of-school youth. After taking the CSAT (Korea’s national college entrance exam), I wanted to get to know these students better and began volunteering. Since slow learners often need special education and multicultural students require language support, I chose to focus on out-of-school youth—where I could help immediately.

What have you learned from working with them?

It’s made me reflect on stereotypes. For example, the youth center never uses the term “student.” That word implies formal enrollment in school, which doesn’t apply here. So we just refer to them by age group—as “youth.”

I also became aware of how poor their learning conditions are. While programs like Seoul Learn do exist, many lack essential tools like tablets. Economic inequality creates further barriers. The more I engaged, the more I saw the urgent need for support in these areas. 

You’ve gone beyond one-on-one mentoring by connecting local centers with Hanyang University’s volunteer network. What motivated that effort?

I realized that if education relies solely on volunteers, everything stops when the volunteers leave. 토토사이트추천 youth need consistent, long-term support if they are to progress to high school or college. I began thinking seriously about building a more reliable support system.

While brainstorming how to recruit more mentors, I remembered HanSaBong (Hanyang University Volunteer Work Program). It turns out Hanyang University’s HanSaBong program also runs mentoring projects. By linking it with local centers, we were able to solve the mentor shortage. We have even expanded our collaboration to include the student council of the Department of Korean Language Education in the College of Education. As a result, we now have more mentors than mentees. (laughs)

What do you hope to pursue in the future?

I’m interested in educational economics—the field that studies how education produces high-quality talent and how that connects to individual utility. I believe education is one of the most critical issues in Korea today. In some rural areas, there is plenty of education funding, yet little is spent on actual learning. At the national level, higher education also lacks sufficient investment. I want to help change these inefficiencies in the system.

Any final thoughts for fellow Hanyangians?

When I first connected various mentoring programs, many people told me they did not know such programs existed. That made me realize how under-promoted volunteer opportunities are. I hope more people take an interest. Volunteering does not always have to be long-term—even donating clothes is a meaningful act. I would love to see more Hanyang students take part in practicing love through action.