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This past May, Convocation student speaker Woo-Jung Amber Kim saluted her fellow graduates for their 鈥渋ncredible adaptability鈥� in a final semester upended by a global pandemic.

That same quality has helped Kim herself navigate a career path that has oscillated between classroom teaching and explorations of diverse cultures 鈥� at times reflecting her own evolving interests, and, at others, responding to a rapidly changing world.

Kim鈥檚 mother and aunt are educators, and she planned from early on not only to go into teaching, but also to learn her craft at 抖阴app. She recalls visiting New York as a teen, and 鈥渨alking past the TC campus and thinking I鈥檇 love to go here.鈥� At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a master鈥檚 in Secondary Education & Science, a visiting lecture on hip hop pedagogy by TC鈥檚 Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education, essentially sealed the deal.

鈥淚 was on the edge of my seat the entire workshop, thinking 鈥�Wow, TC must be very progressive to let him do this kind of research,鈥�鈥� says Kim. 鈥淭C was always in the back of my mind, but after meeting and hearing Chris Emdin, I knew I wanted to attend an institution that would give him that kind of platform.鈥�

And so she did 鈥� but not quite as she鈥檇 originally envisioned. Kim was born in Hawaii and raised in California and South Korea. She attended an international high school in Seoul and subsequently spent a gap year there as a substitute teacher.

鈥淚t got me thinking about languages and how they affect the different ways people learn,鈥� she says.

Thus when Kim arrived at TC in 2018, it was as a student in the International Educational Development program in the College鈥檚 Department of International & Transcultural Studies. There she met Carol Benson, Associate Professor of International & Comparative Education, who has conducted research on indigenous language learning in Cambodia鈥檚 northern provinces.

TC was always in the back of my mind, but after meeting and hearing Chris Emdin, I knew I wanted to attend an institution that would give him that kind of platform.

鈥擶oo-Jung Amber Kim

鈥淪he has a foot in both worlds and does a great job of bridging teaching and research,鈥� Kim says of Benson.  

By the end of her first year Kim herself was bridging both worlds through a stateside CARE Cambodia internship that culminated in a six-week, research-focused visit to Cambodia. After observing and collecting data on the training of indigenous teachers, she decided 鈥渢o learn more how nongovernment organizations can navigate the different levels of government to bring about change.鈥� The result was her master鈥檚 thesis, titled "Perspectives of Multilingual Education Teachers on the Sustainability of Multilingual Education Programs in Cambodia." 

Kim might well have chosen to continue exploring the worlds of international development and education after graduating in May, but, as she told her fellow graduates in remarks delivered from her home in South Korea, 鈥渙ur moment for celebration has been redefined by the global crisis.鈥� Instead, she鈥檚 taken a position as a science instructor at a private international school in California.

鈥淚 realized that I鈥檇 never really had an opportunity to have my own classroom,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ven though I had worked as a substitute, I thought maybe I should backtrack to see what it is like to plant my feet in one classroom and develop lesson plans and grade papers on a daily basis.鈥�

Still, it seems likely, knowing Kim鈥檚 interests, that the road may call again. In her Convocations speech, she repeatedly emphasized that experiences such as her own field work in Cambodia appear all the richer in hindsight: 鈥淭hrough the crisis, our memories and accomplishments of our time at TC have been redefined for the better.鈥� 

— Steve Giegerich