Sehwa Emblems

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School Name

The word ‘Sehwa’ means ‘the whole world is peaceful and all people live in harmony’, it being the sophisticated school name loved by the whole Sehwa community. The ‘Se 세(世)’ of Sehwa represents the whole world, and ‘hwa 화(和)’ indicates ‘peace, gentleness, tenderness and harmony.’ The school name implies the great desire of humanity, ‘a world of peace and harmony.’

School Motto

Love all neighbords
and be loyal to the country with a radiant heart.

School Motto of SGH is ‘Love all neighbors and be loyal to the country with a radiant heart.’ In contrast to most mission statements which list abstract nouns and aim for authoritarian guidance, School Motto of SGH is one complete sentence thus making it clear, precise and smooth.

The phrase ‘with a radiant heart’ represents the values an individual must pursue. To students on the path of learning, the ability to understand everything with no prejudice or bias is essential. So students must develop a radiant, optimistic outlook on life, rather than a dark, negative attitude towards the world.

Another phrase, ‘love all neighbors’ expresses the spirit of volunteering. Apartments surrounding our society demolish the community spirit, and the more modernized our society becomes, the more likely these selfish features will be promoted. The phrase above was set by considering such environmental conditions. This type of volunteering spirit helps overcome selfishness and acts as the key feature to develop autonomous citizenship.

The word ‘country’ from the phrase ‘be loyal to the country’ involves the idea of ethnic culture rather than the physical border of the country. The idea of ‘loyal’ used in the phrase is also not referring to blind obedience but true love and faith in ethnic culture. Without utilizing Korean identity, true globalization cannot be brought to realization. For such reason, loyalty to one’s own country is thought to be an important virtue for students, and this is why it is mentioned in the mission statement.

School Crest

The school crest embodying a person studying with an unfolded book and a soaring bird shows the purpose of the school through simple methodology. The person who designed the school logo was Shim Woonseob, taking charge of the design team in the head office of TAEKWANG Industry. According to the designer, “The SGH logo is the composition of a studying person and a soaring bird. The unfolded book indicates ‘Hyeong Seol Ji Gong 형설지공(螢雪之功)’, an ancient Chinese proverb which translates to ‘the fruits of diligent study’, and the figure of a soaring bird indicates the hope and vision of all students.” Afterward, as the meaning of the logo evolved, it became apparent that the big circle represents the universe, the book, in fact, indicates the treasure house of knowledge, and the small circle symbolizes intelligence and passion for seeking after truth.

School flower

he school flower of Sehwa Girls’ High School was the lily at first.

The lily is famous for symbolizing purity. The season of the lily comes in May and June, and it is regarded as a flower that symbolizes femininity because of its elegance and big size. The lily was selected as the school flower implying the proposition of developing the purity like a white bud, but in 1997, accepting the teachers’ suggestion, we changed our school flower to the azalea. The azalea is a flower that is strong enough to live in sterile land and easy to discover in Korea. The season of the azalea comes in March and April which are chilly months, and the pink color of the azalea flower gradually covering different parts of the country represents the arrival of spring in Korea. In effect, this symbolic flower conquers the barren Korean winter. Being the first flower of the year to bloom in Sehwa Girls’ High School, it provides students with a brightened outlook on their new school year.

School tree

The school tree of Sehwa Girls’ High school is the ginkgo, which is pronounced Eun-haeng in Korean.

Since the color of the tree is similar to apricot, the word ‘Haeng(杏)’ is used as it is from the Chinese Character, representing the meaning of apricot. The word ‘Eun(銀)’ is also taken from the Chinese language meaning silver color which is similar to the middle part of the bark. The ginkgo has persistence and elegance as it is known as the living fossil. We assigned ginkgo as our school’s tree in order to encourage students to be dignified and tidy just as the ginkgo is. In addition, most of the roadside trees in Banpo are ginkgo trees, being an important symbol of the Banpo area. The name tags of Sehwa Girls’ High School have a different color for each grade; yellow-green for first grade, green for second grade, and yellow for third. The name tags represent the seasonal color changes of the ginkgo leaves. Despite such frequent color changes, the ginkgo tree stands firmly on one spot, acting as the emotional anchor for the Sehwa community.