What is your current role/responsibilities?
My current role is the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Children’s Discovery Museum (CDM) – the city’s first child-centered museum dedicated to learning through play. We are an educational playscape for all Hong Kong communities to explore, create, and express themselves together. Our setting uniquely reflects Hong Kong’s people and culture, and is designed especially for children ten years old and under. My responsibilities are numerous and diverse, as I am also the Founder of CDM. I wear many hats, from working on fundraising, to establishing operational procedures, marketing and branding our new organization, conducting staff training, and helping to ensure that safety and interactions with visitors on the museum floor are up to standard.
How did HGSE prepare you for that position?
HGSE’s overall teaching culture prepared me to lead. Professors modeled what thoughtful listening felt like, so I am able to apply the skills to affirm my staff thoughts. Professors broke the traditional dichotomy of “teacher knows all and students should accept the knowledge as fact” to create a culture of “we are all learning together”, which is something I strive to instill at CDM. Most importantly, from a class taught by Tina Blythe, she shared that in order to go fast, we must first go slow. At the time, this puzzled me, but as I lived the slow pace of starting CDM, I came to really appreciate what she meant and was comforted to know that if she was right, things would move quickly once we got started. After almost three years of planning, CDM opened last September. We have been praised for our high-quality work and the museum’s reputation took off amongst kindergartens, primary schools, and parents, so that we had almost 60,000 visits in our first year of operation. The numbers validated that all the slow and thoughtful work was well spent.
What is your favorite HGSE memory?
Before HGSE I worked in Beijing, China for a company that built and operated kindergartens throughout the country. As the head of the Education Team, I established the English curriculum and conducted training for all staff, including campus directors. While it was a rewarding experience, I consciously knew that as a learner I had grown stagnant, as I was most often the one teaching. I became insatiable for interactions to gain insight, perspective, and knowledge. My appetite was filled the minute I sat in my first class and from first interactions with my peers. Professors asking us to “turn and talk”, finding like-minded peers who are equally passionate about the state of education and the desire to “learn to change the world” were deeply felt. The entire year was filled with so many impressionable moments, both inside and outside the classroom, that it is truly difficult to determine a favorite memory.
What is your advice to prospective students?
1) At minimum, gain three years of real-life experience before attending HGSE. The depth, appreciation, and perspective from having worked, will allow your overall HGSE experience to impact you more. You will also be able to further contribute to your peers’ learning.
2) Really look at the courses offered to determine which program best fits your needs, but embrace that sometimes reality does not meet expectations, so be prepared to shop around for a class that does suit you.
3) It will be difficult, but try to look beyond HGSE’s offerings: enjoy non-HGSE talks (which are often free!) and visit the captivating museums!
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