The school is located in Guro-gu, Seoul. Even though it was founded in 1966, the school did some kind of rebranding by relocating the school to Guro-gu in 2008 and changing its name to SOPA (서울공연예술고등학교, Seo-ul Gong-yeon Yesul Godeung Hak-Gyo) in 2009. They opened their doors for the first batch registration after that. Ever since that time, many Korean idols have attended this school. And that has made SOPA quite different from any other performing arts high school in the world. Well, of course, you can’t find BTS’s Jungkook or EXO’s Oh Se-hun as your seniors anywhere but here. And why do idols attended this school instead of a regular high school? Well, not all of the idols who make a debut have graduated from high school. If they get a chance to debut at a very young age and they are at the age to attend school, they need to go to a school that can adjust to their busy celebrity schedules. Since every idol has a very busy schedule, especially during their promotional period, or when they are on tour (domestic or worldwide), it is possible for underaged idols to have an individual schedule that forces them to be absent from school. And that is the reason why most idols that are still in high school choose to attend a performing arts high school like SOPA rather than a regular high school. In SOPA, it’s easier and more flexible to arrange absences for student idols when there’s a schedule that prevents them from going to school and they need to take a leave from school for a while. Actually, SOPA is not the only performing arts high school attended by idols. There are also other performing arts high schools besides SOPA, namely Hanlim, Kaywon, Lila, and Korea Arts High School. But SOPA is known to be the performing arts high school that has the most debuted idols, rookies, or even trainees as their students. Well, are you curious about this school? Let’s find out more on the next page!
