We can’t let #AAPI Heritage Month come to a close without sharing insights from a recent conversation with Stacey Wang, EFF partner and CEO of Yu Ming Charter School in the Bay Area. A national Blue-Ribbon School of Excellence, Yu Ming’s Mandarin-immersion model is one of the highest-performing schools in California, regardless of the socioeconomic background, race and learning differences among their students.
Stacey Wang, CEO, Yu Ming Charter School:
1. What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you?
As an Asian American CEO in the education sector, AAPI Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the rich culture and the diverse contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to our society. It is a time to celebrate the progress towards inclusion that has happened, and to acknowledge the barriers and realities our communities continue to face in this country.
2. What role does AAPI representation play in the Yu Ming community?
Yu Ming is a Mandarin-immersion public school serving students with over 28 different home languages in a county where 30% of the population identify as AAPI. English is often our students’ second language, and Mandarin is their third. It’s incredible to have this level of diversity be the community in which our students grow up and learn how to become global citizens and humans who can navigate lines of differences.
This month, we invited different AAPI leaders - a chef who created the first Asian cooking show on Food Network, the first AAPI California Supreme Court justice, a NASA scientist now working on climate change, and an engineer turned startup founder innovating in enterprise AI - to share stories about their journeys with our students.
They shared how important their values and heritage were in creating the foundation for who they are today and how they operate in the world. They talked about how they learned to create inclusion for themselves…so that they could be seen and valued beyond their skin color. They inspired the students to follow their passions…and overcome the challenges that life will throw their way.
These are important messages for Yu Ming students as they navigate similar challenges a generation later. It is important for them to know there are successful AAPI leaders who look like them…who are now rooting for their success.
3. Who are the AAPI role models in your life that supported you in your journey to becoming an exceptional school leader?
My mother is my most important role model. She taught me to never let my gender or my race be a barrier to opportunities, but rather, see facets of my identity as strengths. When I was younger, my mother made it a priority for me to learn Chinese...That deep belief in heritage inspires me every day to create a similar experience for students at Yu Ming, an experience that values who they are and see their uniqueness as assets.
