[Student Voices] The Beautiful Egg
Junghoon Yoon (Sinseo Middle School, Grade 1)
By Junghoon Yoon (Sinseo Middle School, Grade 1)
Four years ago, I went to Singapore for a month to attend a science camp. I was a knee-high second grader who struggled to use a glue stick in class or even have lunch on my own. My mother, who came to Singapore to take care of me, was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get along with my foreign classmates. However, this worry was soon overcome.
In my class in Singapore, I had the opportunity to meet students from various backgrounds. There were kids from China, Japan, and many other Asian countries. Despite our differences, what stood out to me was the sense of acceptance. My classmates treated me with kindness and respect. They were always ready to lend me pens or pencils. They even shared their lunches with me, making me feel like part of the group.
My time in Singapore gave me a lesson in what diversity offers. One day that I can still remember vividly was the egg drop challenge. In the egg drop challenge, you try to build a structure to protect your egg from breaking when it falls from a certain height. As we shared our opinions on how to build the structure, I was surprised by the richness of our ideas. Everyone had a different plan to safely land the egg. Even though we saw things differently, our ideas were valued and combined. Due to that, we were able to successfully build the structure. We couldn’t quite master the landing, though.
After our egg broke, I observed something special among my classmates. Some were already brainstorming reasons for our failure. Others were simply laughing at the humorous outcome. What struck me most, however, was the absence of blame. Not a single kid pointed a finger at anyone else.
After returning to Korea and going back to my school, I could feel a difference. Are students always open to new ideas? Are they always supportive of classmates who fail? Are they always friendly to people who are different? Unfortunately, no.
Looking back, my time in Singapore taught me more than just how to study or make friends (or clean up a broken egg). It showed me the importance of valuing people for who they are, no matter where they come from or what they might believe. I would like to follow that lesson as I live. Whether it’s at school or anywhere else, I’ll do my best to ensure everyone feels included. Just like the kids who held out their hands to me four years ago.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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