Former Arcadia alumni who grew up here, Ms. Clara Choi, lived abroad for two years in Japan. She taught in the inner cities and a charter school program before coming back to Arcadia High School (AHS) to help build the ELD program here.

“I went abroad to work with a school board out there [Japan] to teach English as a second language. I taught K-12 and adult night classes,” said Ms. Choi

Originally, Ms. Choi didn’t want to be a teacher, but after working among them for a very long time she realized that she enjoyed being with them. She compared teaching to a community saying that they were similar because everyone was collaborating, growing, and trying to make a difference. Ms. Choi found this to be pretty exciting, so she found education to be a great fit for herself.

While teaching, she has had many things taught to her from the experience of teaching. To her, there are incredible teaching moments where one can stand in the gap and intervene in a situation, being the voice that offers a different path. Teaching is very powerful, and teachers have a great responsibility to not only do their work but also help their students.

“There was this one student, his father and older brother were incarcerated, and he was already walking down that path, and I just was on him, trying to get him to do better and giving him a lot of opportunities to do better. One day he just came to school and he wasn’t wearing his usual clothes. Instead, he was dressed in Hollister and cut his hair. After that, he tried so hard and completely turned around,” said Ms. Choi, remembering one of her experiences that stood out to her.

Ms. Choi’s teaching philosophy is that people learn from those that they love, and she thinks teaching is a byproduct of being passionate about reading, writing, and learning in general. So, if she can bring enthusiasm to what she loves, she can bring it to her students,

Although it is her first year teaching at AHS, Ms. Choi has been teaching for over ten years and has taught a broad range of students.

“So far my first year has been amazing. It feels so incredible to be part of such an amazing collaboration of teachers and administrators who work to help support each other. I love the amazing culture of performance and community throughout the school,” Ms. Choi said.

Ms. Choi is very excited to be serving the AUSD community at AHS.