The best thing about ministry involves the people I meet. The most difficult thing about ministry involves the people I meet as well but that’s another post. Let me focus on the former. Becky was one of the first people that my wife and I met over 10 years ago in Seattle - through one of my former youth group students in New Jersey. We had dinner once and didn’t see her for years. She then strolled into Quest Church about 5+ years ago. When we first met her, she was a student at the University of Washington. Couple years ago, she became the FIRST female Korean-American principal in the state of Washington.

I remember her speaking of her dreams of being an educator and someday, a principal. She first wanted to be a news anchor but had a change of heart or a “calling” if you will. I remember her volunteering her time as our church’s first children’s ministry director - even when we had only couple kids - my kids! And this is why it’s so cool to be involved in community: you get to do life with folks and see, even in the midst of our imperfections, people live out their dreams and calling. I even got to officiate her marriage to her husband, Charles Kim and recently dedicated their baby daughter to the Lord.

Her commitment to work and live out her faith in the public school system is a great inspiration to me. While you’ll hear a camp of Christians and leaders prodding folks to remove their children from the public school system, I have different opinions and knowing people like Becky who are seeking to live missionally through her job is another confirmation. Becky, I’m so proud of you and feel privileged to be your pastor and friend.

Here’s a recent article from the International Examiner about Becky:

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Principal Rebekah Kim: Advocate of cultural competency and equity in education

Rebekah Kim remembers the experience of feeling like an outsider when she was a student. Having grown up in predominantly Caucasian towns, Kim, a Korean-American, said she was no stranger to being the recipient of racial tokenism and discriminatory remarks when she was younger.

Now a principal at Marvista Elementary School, Kim said she draws upon these experiences in her work as an educator.

“I always remember where I came from when thinking about students,” she said.

Kim recently started her third year as principal at the Normandy Park school. On top of pushing for strong academic work from her students, Kim has another goal – boost cultural competency among instructors.

An advocate for cultural competency and equity in education, Kim has focused much of her career on these issues. They were the focus of her Master of Education at the University of Washington. As a teacher in the Tukwila School District and a principal intern at Aki Kurose Middle School and John Stanford International School, she witnessed economic, language and other inequities among her students, she said. In response, she led a cultural competency professional development program and created a cultural competency rubric.

Now, she’s part of the Highline School District’s Cultural Competency Committee and teaches cultural competency workshops to instructors from her school and around the district.

The workshops focus on making educators self-aware of their own backgrounds, privileges and stereotypes before looking at those of students, Kim said.

“Otherwise, it’s not meaningful,” she said.

In the long run, the committee plans to train all district staff members, Kim said.

Her own experiences growing up instilled a passion to reject insensitivity to diversity, according to Kim.

“That passion just grew as I went to college,” she said.

In the long run, she hopes to see more Asian American leaders in education.

“It’s important for students to see leaders who look like them and teachers who look like them,” she said.

Kim is part of a generation of younger educators who are starting to replace retiring baby boomer principals, said BiHoa Caldwell, former principal at Aki Kurose, who described Kim as an energetic and caring educator.

In her early 30s, Kim may be younger than most principals, but her goals aren’t much different. She said she hopes to make Marvista an effective place of learning where her 550 students don’t get lost academically and also a place that holds high expectations for all students, she said.

Kim didn’t always strive to be in education. She started off pursuing a career in broadcast journalism, she said.

But her father encouraged her to pursue education because of her love for children, Kim said.

And she’s been at it since.

“I fell in love with teaching and I knew it was my calling,” Kim said.