Seoul Municipal Hwagok Youth Center begins first year of operations as Gangseo-gu Environmental Education Center
The Seoul Municipal Hwagok Youth Center, designated as the Gangseo-gu Environmental Education Center for three years starting in 2026, is expanding its environmental education activities to schools and the local community. The center has conducted various participatory programs, including the "Imagination Pop Pop Festival" and various local campaigns involving students and residents.
Since being designated as the Gangseo-gu Environmental Education Center for 2026, the Seoul Municipal Hwagok Youth Center has been consecutively operating experiential environmental education programs for youth and local residents. The center was designated on April 16 and will serve as a regional environmental education hub for three years, and starting this year, it is expanding its scope of activities to schools and the local community.
The most notable project is the "Imagination Pop Pop Festival," a participatory environmental festival held with local residents and youth. At this event held last June, performances themed around the environment, upcycling and eco-friendly making, games related to waste separation and the climate crisis, and environmental science experiences were conducted. A key feature was that the method of touching and experiencing directly, rather than simple explanations, made it easy to connect environmental issues with daily life.
Campaigns visiting local sites also continued. A total of 2,016 youth and local residents participated in "Hwagok Festa" this year, where environmental campaigns and experiential activities linking local festivals and schools were operated. At Songjeong Elementary School and Yeomchang Middle School, activities such as distributing eco-friendly wooden ballpoint pens and making four-leaf clover keyrings using sock loops were conducted. The youth environmental club "Cogwheel" continued to carry out village plogging, upcycling experiences, zero-waste education, and eco-friendly shampoo bar making together with the Sinjeong Girls' Middle School volunteer club "Sharing Tree."
Programs for local residents were also conducted in parallel. The "Environmental Education Leader Training Academy" covered environmental ecology education, forest play environmental education, basic local ecological knowledge, experiential activities using local environmental resources, and participatory environmental education teaching methods. A total of 15 people completed the course. The Seoul Municipal Hwagok Youth Center plans to expand environmental education beyond the center to schools and the local community. Director Jeong Sang-yeong stated, "In honor of the first year of being designated as the Gangseo-gu Environmental Education Center, we aimed to provide opportunities for various generations, from youth to local residents, to learn about environmental issues and practice them directly," adding, "In the future, we will continue to operate various environmental education programs by actively cooperating with local schools and related organizations so that environmental education can lead to daily practice."
Covers K-pop for KSW Journal, and also writes about Culture and K-Variety.
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