[Vol. 79] Cheongram Ssam: the Oasis to Quench Thirst for Information about KNUE

  Have you ever felt the pleasure of finding an oasis in the middle of a desolate desert? It is how a student who is having a hard time finding the right information feels when he or she met Cheongram Ssam. It is a group of admission counselors which belongs to KNUE Department of Admissions and Human Resource Management. Currently, 10 members from various majors are working. The name contains various meanings. Cheongram is a part of an idiom Cheong Chul Eo Ram which stands for the situation where a pupil excels his master. SSam has two meanings. One indicates that Cheongram Ssam is made up of pre-service teachers. The other stands for mentors who guide those who are interested in KNUE. Just like multiple meanings of its name, Cheongram Ssam actively promotes KNUE to many people in multiple ways. Besides promoting KNUE, Cheongram Ssam helps students in many ways.

  Cheongram Ssam mainly does four things. Early admissions fair held every summer in COEX is the flower of Cheongram Ssam activities. They provide application counseling along with admission officers. They give a brief introduction about KNUE to students and their parents who visit the early admissions fair. Some of you may think “how about the students who want to talk about other universities?” No worries. For those who need information about other universities, Cheongram Ssam gives application counseling about other universities. Cheongram Ssam also takes part in the briefing session on admission requirements organized by provincial education offices. Compared to early admissions fair which is focused mainly on application counseling, a briefing session on admission requirements consists of more various programs. Besides admission requirements counseling, it provides mock interview and mentoring in which one Cheongram Ssam member becomes a mentor and gives 1:1 admission requirements counseling. Thirdly, they participate in school events regarding admission requirements such as campus tour. Middle and high school students from all over the country visit KNUE every year. Cheongram Ssam hosts the briefing session on admission requirements held in the Museum of Education during the campus tour, and the school promoters do the job of leading the students. Lastly, Cheongram Ssam provides application counseling on social media such as Naver café, Facebook, Kakao Talk plus friend. Members reply to the questions from students by comments and messages especially in Sumanhwi, a huge internet café for sharing information on the entrance examination. On the Facebook page, they upload examination requirements of the year or other data of entrance exams. To offer quality replies, Cheongram Ssam takes examination requirements lecture every month.

  For students who are interested in KNUE, it is hard to find overall information about the department not to mention the entrance exam, especially when the department has a small quota. However, thanks to the untiring passion of Cheongram Ssam, many students could get the information they need. Jo Gwan-hee, a freshman from the Department of Primary Education, prepared for the entrance examination during his service period. He mentioned that the kind replies from Cheongram Ssam on Sumanhwi’s college of education bulletin board helped him a lot. After entering KNUE, he became a member of Cheongram Ssam. He said “I became a member of Cheongram Ssam because I wanted to help students who are desperate like I was a year ago. You know, sometimes a small help can truly impress people.” Like this, Cheongram Ssam is functioning as the Oasis for those who are thirsty for information.