In this blog post, we will introduce sample self-introduction letters focusing on memorable special circumstances or episodes from the growth process.

 

An unremarkable child discovers the power of a smile through a mentor

As a child, I was an unremarkable child. I didn’t excel in academics or the arts, and I was just average at everything I did. My academic progress was average. I didn’t try to draw attention by acting spoiled or whiny, but I wasn’t overly mature for my age either. My parents loved and praised me unconditionally, but I knew from an early age that I didn’t have much to boast about—except for perfect attendance awards. It’s not that I didn’t try, but after experiencing several instances where even my hardest efforts in homework or projects were just average, I started to focus on maintaining an average level, neither falling too far behind nor rising too high.
What transformed my life beyond recognition was meeting a teacher in elementary school. Until then, I had believed I had no unique qualities or abilities and had resigned myself to living an ordinary life, stuck in a monotonous routine. However, a teacher who noticed my smile and told me, “Your smile is truly beautiful,” changed everything. Even though I was just an ordinary-looking child at the time, the teacher’s constant praise of my smile began to change my life little by little. I started to wonder if my smile was really as beautiful as the teacher had said, and I tried to make it even more beautiful. Gradually, my smiling face became a tool that drew people to me. Even now, I don’t know if my smiling face truly looked beautiful to my teacher or if it was just a clever way to boost my confidence, but her praise remains a happy memory that always makes me smile.

 

 

Raised under a laissez-faire educational approach

My father raised me under a laissez-faire approach. When you first hear this, you might think it was very irresponsible. However, I would like to say that it was one of the wisest methods. Of course, my mother always opposed it, but she was not as strong as my father, so she couldn’t stop him. My father told me to try anything I wanted to do. Even stealing. The first time I stole something was when I was in fifth grade. It was a robot from a stationery store. Here’s how it happened. I asked my father to buy me a robot, but he refused, saying we already had enough robots at home. I remembered how my friends would borrow erasers and never return them, so I thought I could just borrow the robot from the store owner. So I approached the stationery store owner and asked to borrow the robot, promising to return it after playing with it. But the owner said it wasn’t something he lent out and sent me away. However, I wanted it so badly that I secretly put it in my pocket. Then I went home and took it out and showed it to my father. My father saw it and asked how I got it. I told him I borrowed it from the shop owner. But my father didn’t believe me and told me to borrow another robot. So I went back to the shop and secretly put the robot in my pocket again. When my father saw it, he told me he would return it to the shop owner. I was startled and said no. My father asked why not. When I hesitated, he asked why I had lied. But I insisted I hadn’t lied. Then my father tried to drag me to the owner. I cried and clung to him, refusing to go. My father grabbed me again and asked if I had really stolen the item. I admitted it. He then asked why I was crying, and I said it was because I was afraid the shop owner would find out. My father asked if we could just go home like this, and I agreed. But my father really did take me home. However, that was when the real problem began. After that day, I avoided going to the stationery store and couldn’t even look the owner in the eye. Eventually, I went to the owner with the robot and apologized for my mistake. Fortunately, he forgave me, and I never stole anything again. Later, I found out that my father had paid the shop owner for the item and explained the situation beforehand to prevent me from stealing again. After that, I realized I had to take responsibility for my actions and have always tried to make the right decisions in life.

 

 

Learning the power of positivity from my father who never gave up hope

When I was in sixth grade, my father, who had been in poor health, suddenly suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. He was admitted urgently and had to undergo surgery immediately. For a while, he was in critical condition and couldn’t even receive visitors. When I was finally allowed to see him, I still remember his face. His face was swollen, and he had to be suspended upside down to help the blood circulate. Seeing him like that, my mother, my sister, and I were filled with despair. But my father never let go of the thread of hope.
The doctors had given up, but my father did not. He made efforts to eat regularly and never stopped smiling for us, even in the midst of his suffering. He also worked harder than anyone else in his painful rehabilitation therapy. At times, he was in so much pain that we suggested taking a day off from therapy. But he replied, “Then I wouldn’t have the face to see my daughter,” and started again. Now, while he still has some difficulty on the left side, he has fully recovered and can live a normal life. Watching him, I learned the power of positivity and determination. I made efforts to become a positive and determined person myself. I studied hard without going to cram school and was admitted to Kyung Hee University, where I consistently received scholarships. Despite many difficulties and physically demanding tasks, I persevered by thinking of my father’s determination. As a result, I graduated with good grades.

 

 

Learning the bond of love through raising a dog

I have always had a dog at home since I was a child. The day I first brought a puppy home is still vivid in my memory. After meeting the cute and adorable puppy at a neighbor’s house, I apparently talked about the puppy nonstop whenever I came home. I vaguely remember writing a long letter to Santa Claus at Christmas, praying that I could live with a puppy. That winter, Santa Claus did not grant my wish, but instead, my parents allowed me to adopt a puppy. Before bringing the puppy home, my parents made me promise a few things. They said that a puppy is a weaker being than humans, so we must take good care of it, and since its lifespan is shorter than ours, we must be responsible for it until the end of its life. To be honest, I remember crying uncontrollably after hearing those words. I had thought of it as gaining a cute little sibling, but the idea of it dying before me was overwhelming. My parents said that if I could fully understand and accept those two things, then I could bring the puppy home and raise it. My brother and I spent the entire day agonizing over the decision, but we eventually decided that since there were two of us, we could take turns caring for the puppy. If it passed away first, we would be sad, but we believed that if we loved it deeply during its time with us, it would be okay. The puppy that came into our home as a family member grew up happily with us and lived a full life before passing away. Now, the puppy that he had is growing up and is with us. Through raising a puppy, I learned how challenging it is to take responsibility for a life, and also how much joy and love can be gained through that process. I think this is what my parents wanted to teach us.

 

 

Growing up with intellectual curiosity

My parents decided to move back to the countryside to help my younger sibling, who was suffering from atopic dermatitis. My own frequent illnesses also influenced their decision. When I started elementary school and was just beginning to enjoy school life, I was sad to leave my friends, but I was also excited about the prospect of moving to a new area. Five years after moving to the countryside, my younger sibling regained clear skin. Additionally, our entire family was able to lead healthier lives. My father, who had been overweight due to a sedentary job, naturally lost weight through farm work.
Life in the countryside not only helped us regain our health but also sparked my interest in the environment. After moving to the countryside, my parents became increasingly interested in organic farming. Whenever they had free time, they would go to the mountains to gather herbs, and I would accompany them, learning about the fascinating plants and animals we encountered. Since there was no TV or computer at home, I relied solely on books for knowledge. My parents would buy any book I wanted. My parents also purchased a large number of agriculture-related books after moving to the countryside, and our family gradually became a family of learners. We would gather together, with my parents researching farming, while I read extensively on humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Those were incredibly happy times. Whenever I recall the warm sunlight streaming in as we sat together on the veranda studying, I feel a sense of joy.
I believe that this intellectual curiosity allowed me to grow significantly. Through reading, I learned how to study independently and cultivated a spirit of inquiry. By learning on my own, I was able to discover my own effective study methods through trial and error. Additionally, by repeatedly setting goals and working toward them, I naturally engaged in exploratory activities to gain deeper knowledge. At first, I was more interested in psychology. As I gained a deeper understanding of psychological research methods, I became interested in statistical techniques, which led me to pursue a master’s and doctoral degree in statistics.

 

 

Overcoming negative thinking with resilience

I was a student who often saw things in a more negative light compared to my peers. The economic downturn that hit my father’s business was a significant event that shattered my naive belief that life was always happy and rosy. Before that, I was someone who could only optimistically look forward to the future, but once I realized that my life could also be overshadowed by darkness, I began to worry that an unexpected accident, like the one described in the proverb “kiu,” could suddenly happen to me.
To me, who was consumed by such anxious possibilities, my friends tried to reassure me by analyzing the probability of accidents and saying things like, “The chance of you getting into that accident is the same as winning the lottery.” I am still grateful for their advice. Additionally, thanks to the bold advice from friends who told me not to just sit around waiting for misfortune to strike but to fight back if it does, I came to believe that if immense luck is rare, so is immense misfortune. Furthermore, I was able to prepare practical solutions such as insurance, savings, and exercise to build a physical foundation, all aimed at being adequately prepared if misfortune were to strike. My school days, spent trembling in fear as a timid child who didn’t know when misfortune would strike, were transformed by a shift in perspective. This shift allowed me to build a foundation as a resilient young adult ready to face any misfortune that might come my way.

 

 

A year in the US awakens extraordinary adaptability

When I was young, I lived in the US for about a year due to my parents’ circumstances. My parents had tried to settle in the US with the help of relatives, but their efforts ultimately failed, and we had to return to Korea. Each member of my family has different memories of that year. My parents, who had to adapt to a new environment and earn money for our family, remember it as a difficult time. My younger sister, who had to spend a year in a strange place away from her friends, remembers it as a lonely time. However, I remember it as a new land of opportunity where I was able to enjoy various experiences thanks to my exceptional adaptability.
If it had been any longer than that year, I might have been overwhelmed by the alienation and resistance that a child couldn’t endure, leaving me with some difficult memories. Nevertheless, I was constantly excited by the joy of stepping foot on a foreign land I had only seen in TV shows and movies. Even when faced with the cliques of schoolchildren or the unfamiliar stares of others, I maintained an actively positive attitude. Perhaps it was because I was young that I was able to muster such courage. The energy I had to keep trying, even when people didn’t take me seriously and I could only speak broken English that I had learned at a basic level in Korea, was something I could only muster at that age. Thanks to that, I was the only one in my family whose English improved, and even as my parents started over in Korea, I made an effort not to forget that year’s experience, gradually turning my attention toward fields related to overseas life and language learning. Though I no longer possess the same youthful boldness, I have honed my passion for challenging new worlds through relentless effort. As a result, I returned from my overseas experience with a perspective vastly different from that of my brief childhood visit, and now stand before your company’s doors, preparing for a new beginning as a member of society.

 

 

Overcoming a tendency to focus on flaws through my homeroom teacher

As a child, I was a pessimistic child who saw only the shadows of the world’s light and darkness. Due to my family’s difficult financial situation, my parents’ constant conflicts, and the frequent moves we had to make, I couldn’t make proper friends. This led me to develop the habit of always assuming the worst possible outcomes. I felt depressed because I believed that while others had friends and proper parents, I didn’t, so I told myself, “There’s no real love in this world, and there’s no one I truly like. Everyone is just pretending.” I would come up with such theories on my own. I believed that even the kids who laughed and joked around at school were actually gossiping about each other at home, and that in this cutthroat society, everyone was focused on stepping on others to get ahead.
Because of my tendency to focus only on the negative, it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to develop a healthy personality. The person who reached out to help me was my homeroom teacher at the time. She was the one who gave me the assignment to “think about it the other way around,” trying her best to help me see things in a more positive light. When I would say, “The cup is only half full. It will soon be empty,” she would respond with, “The cup is still half full. You can still drink it all and feel refreshed.” She repeated this game, gradually opening the floodgates of positive thinking for me. At first, I thought the teacher’s ideas were overly optimistic and childish. However, as I stayed after school every day and repeated these exercises with the teacher, I began to think, “If someone cares enough to pay attention to me like this, maybe the world isn’t as negative as I thought.” Gradually, this shift in perspective began to take root. The positive door to my life that began to open through my teacher’s help became the decisive foundation for me to live a better life.

 

 

Inheriting a gourmet disposition

Growing up between my father, who had a gourmet inclination, and my mother, who had a natural talent for cooking and a refined palate, I was naturally exposed to a environment where taste training was a part of daily life, allowing me to refine my palate. My parents made every effort to use the highest quality ingredients in their cooking, consistently allocated a significant portion of our household budget to food expenses, and equipped our kitchen with professional-grade appliances that could rival those of top-tier restaurants. This environment naturally cultivated in me a discerning palate and the ability to distinguish subtle flavors with precision. By a young age, I had reached a level where I could discern even the slightest ingredients mixed into food and assess the condition of the ingredients themselves.
My parents hoped that I would prefer subtle, delicate flavors that highlight the natural taste of ingredients rather than strong or spicy flavors. Instead of instant or processed foods, which most children my age enjoyed, I became accustomed to meals where my parents made an effort to maximize the flavor of each ingredient to awaken my palate to the right path. Thanks to this, even when I went out to eat with friends who said something was delicious or that they liked it, I often found the flavors to be somewhat stimulating due to my heightened senses, which was a bit of a struggle. This was because our family couldn’t afford to eat out often, so we were naturally more sensitive to the strong flavors of restaurant food. My parents, who put a lot of effort into cooking and mealtime, lived a life somewhat different from other adults, and I gradually became aware that my eating habits were also somewhat different from those of my peers.

 

 

The background of growing up exposed to diverse cultures

My father was a pastor. Thanks to my father’s missionary work around the world, I had the opportunity to travel to many countries from a young age. While traveling might seem like a good experience, it was challenging as a student who had to attend school. Moving frequently between countries like Canada, the United States, and Austria made it difficult to adapt to new environments. Trying to settle in one place for about a year, make friends, and get used to school, only to move again soon after, was quite stressful.
However, at some point, I began to think that instead of viewing the situation negatively, I should try to make the most of it. Many of my friends in Korea wanted to study abroad, and there were also many peers who wanted to travel overseas, so I realized that this could be a positive factor for me. Therefore, I made an effort to pay closer attention to my surroundings and experience diverse cultures more than I did when I was younger. I actively participated in local festivals and made efforts to adapt to the cultures of my foreign friends. This growth environment had a unique influence on me. It made me more open-minded toward people and cultures, and it provided a foundation for learning multiple languages. In particular, English, which is widely used worldwide, became so natural to me that I can express myself fluently, almost like a first language.