The Dongdaemun Career and Vocational Experience Support Center "Warak," operated by Seoul's Dongdaemun-gu, said it has successfully wrapped up its first-half campus mentoring program for middle school students.
The campus mentoring program pairs college student mentors with middle schoolers in Dongdaemun-gu, with mentors introducing their majors, campus life and career preparation to help students better understand their options for higher education and future careers.
During the first half of the year, college mentors from a wide range of majors delivered tailored sessions reflecting the characteristics of their respective fields. Particularly notable were sessions led by mentors from acting and theater-and-film departments, where students took part in hands-on exercises — including vocal training, line delivery and scene performance — drawn directly from actual coursework, giving them a concrete sense of what pursuing those fields might look like.
Mentors from health sciences, engineering, the arts and other disciplines also took part, introducing their departments and campus experiences while sharing how they prepared for their own careers, helping students think through their own paths.
Participating students were able to ask questions freely and engage directly with mentors about fields and careers that interested them, gaining a clearer picture of university life and academic majors. The realistic advice and firsthand accounts from college students — close in age to the participants — drew strong enthusiasm and high satisfaction ratings.
Building on the first-half results, Warak plans to expand the number of participating schools and mentors in the second half of the year and continue offering tailored campus mentoring sessions that reflect students' areas of interest. Through meetings with college mentors from diverse majors, the center aims to help middle schoolers discover their aptitudes and potential, and to take an active role in planning their own academic and career paths.
"Campus mentoring is a program that lets middle school students get a vivid, firsthand look at university life through meetings with college mentors and begin envisioning their future careers," Dongdaemun-gu district mayor Choi Dong-min said. "In the second half of the year, we will expand the range of majors and hands-on activities to give students meaningful opportunities to explore their career options."
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