Students chosen for the ‘JYP Center Tour with 2PM Event’ came to the JYP Entertainment Center on August 11, 2009. 2PM members themselves showed the students the recording room and taught them the dances. [Picture by reporter Hwang Jung Ok]

When Hot issue [Section], ‘open study’ king’s magic word [Open! Study] example child becomes crazy about stars and becomes addicted, their parents start worrying a lot. ‘When are you going to study…’. However there are teenagers who study because of stars. This is because they get a ‘reward’ of getting a chance to meet the stars if they raise their grade. A love for stars that can be a disturbance to studying to others actually became a ‘reason to study hard’ to them.


Kids waiting for the celebrities

Afternoon of August 11, 2009, the day it rained really hard because of the typhoon, Mora flower. Students with umbrellas camped in front of the JYP Entertainment Center, located in Seoul Kangnam-Gu Chundam –dong. In the very front, there were about 10 students with nervous looks. These were students who were given special ‘permission’ to personally meet the group 2PM.


In June, on the Internet Education company’s inet-school homepage, there was an event attracting the youth. As a ‘JYP Center Tour with 2PM Event, they were letting students personally meet 2PM. However, there was a catch to it. The students had to create their own creative way to study well. In a month, there were about 1700 entries. The final total number of students chosen was 10. This event was co-planned by JYP Entertainment and inet-school. This was the 2nd time having an event like this; first event was the ‘Meeting with the Wonder Girls’ event.


They meet the stars

3PM. The students chosen for the event with the winning chance of 1:170 (19 students, including the friends of the 10 chosen) entered the JYP building. They seemed tense as if they were going in for an audition. In the odd practice room of the basement, there were chairs neatly set for the students. Along with the introductory comment,”2PM is coming out,” members came to the center of the room, greeting the students. Around 5-6 people showed their excitement quietly. They seemed like they couldn’t believe that there were celebrities right in front of them.

The number of members stood in a straight line was 6. Leader Jaebum wasn’t there. Youngest Chansung explained, “He couldn’t come because he had another schedule.” When the members said their individual greetings, students started cheering. When Chansung asked, “Ask questions,” students who were giving scared glares came out and asked “Why are you so handsome?” “What’s the trick in getting as tall as you?” The answer was simple. “Just eat a lot, whatever you eat.” To the question about sleeping habits, Nickhun answered, “Sometimes, I talk in my sleep in Thai.” Because they were chosen for their way to study well, the students asked, “Did you do well in school?” The members tried to get out of question but Chansung eventually said, “I was in the middle. Everybody’s confident until you get into middle school,” laughing.


They observe the stars’ lives

After a short conversation, the female students begged 2PM to show them their make-up room. As Chansung said, “This is the very first place we come to in the morning,” the students asked, “Do you change here too?” We thought he would say ‘You guys ask strange questions,” but he kindly responded, “There’s another room for that.” Nickhun and Junho showed the students their recording room. Junho said, “The agency singers such as Park Jin Young and NoEul all record here. There are times when we get into trouble in that recording booth.” While showing the video room, Taecyeon stated, “You can see singers when they first debuted. Whenever you’re curious, just walk in there and see.” Wooyoung showed the students the staff office. Wooyoung told the students, “You all study hard, right? It would be nice working with you later sometime.” However, the number of questions was less than what we imagined. When we asked why they weren’t asking questions, one female student said, “How can I ask questions when I’m so nervous that I can’t breathe.”


Together with the stars

The members taught the students the main dance of ‘Again & Again.’ When they couldn’t see any students that were doing well, Chansung and Junho explained with details, “Just slip as if you were riding skates,” “You need to move the hands and the feet together.” When Taecyeon professionally showed his part after someone said, “I want to learn Taecyeon’s part,” a few female students screamed, “Ahh!” In the initial plan, they were going to have a chat after learning the dance, but it got cancelled because of the members’ sudden schedule. Instead, the members one by one signed the big 2PM posters. Because of a female student’s request, 2PM signed their name and wrote her a support message.


What is a celebrity to the students?

Im Miryang (Seoul Jamsil High School, 11th Grade) wrote a story about her own grade improvement as her entry to ‘way to study well’ competition. “I studied really hard to meet 2PM. From the final exam, I went up about 5 or 6 ranks in my class.” inet-school’s vice-chief, Lee Jung Hee said, “It’s an event planned as a motivation for the students to study” and explained, “As idols to the students, celebrities can be their life’s advisors.” There are many parents who use rewards to motivate their children to study. Therapist, Oh Ji Hee said, “Moms mostly say, ‘I will let you play video games’ as a reward.” Professor Song In Sup (Sookmyung Women’s University, Department of Education) noted, “A proper reward is intangible rewards such as a praise or a reward that raises confidence, not physical things.” A student that participated in this event, Kim Hyo Jung (Uijeongbu Girls High School 10th grade) was asked, “If there is another opportunity like this in the future, would you study even harder?” She answered, “Of course. I might even become the valedictorian of my grade.”


CREDITS: Reporter Park Jung Hyun + qtkrngal515 @ 2oneday.com (trans)