Tag Archives: Asian American Teachers

Teachers who were Asian Americans, or who worked with Asian American student populations.

Educator and community activist Cheryl Chow of Washington State

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Physical Education teacher and community activist Cheryl Chow of Seattle, Washington. Photo credit: The Seattle Times

Many dedicated and talented educators make substantial contributions to their local communities. One of these educators is Cheryl Mayre Chow, a PE teacher from Washington State.

Cheryl was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 24, 1946, the daughter of Chinese restaurant owners Ping and Ruby Chow. As a young teenager, Cheryl graduated from Franklin High School, and then enrolled at Western Washington University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Teaching. Later she earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Management from Seattle University.

Upon her graduation from college, the neophyte educator became a physical education teacher. As a teacher, she was known for her toughness, high standards, and tenacious advocacy for children. Eventually she became a principal of first Sharples Junior High (renamed Aki Kurose Junior High) and then Garfield High.

Cheryl’s devotion to young people is very evident. Among her many achievements, she served as the Assistant Director for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington, a girls’ basketball coach for the city parks and recreation department, and she also directed the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team. “Everything that Cheryl did, she worked to instill leadership among the girls and kind of mentor them for their adult lives,” remembers friend Lorena Eng. In addition to this work, Cheryl helped to form an outreach program for teens involved in Asian street gangs.

Cheryl also served as the President of the Seattle School Board and worked at the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In addition, she served two terms on her local city council.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from a central nervous system lymphoma on March 29, 2013, at the age of 66. She is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle. To read more about Cheryl Chow, see this obituary at The Seattle Times.

Mary Tsukamoto: The teacher who spent WWII in an American internment camp

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Mary Tsukamoto

Japanese American teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in an American internment camp during World War II.

At the start of World War II, Mary Tsukamoto was living a quiet life as the wife of a strawberry farmer in a diminuitive Japanese-American community in Florin, Northern California. Then Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941. That event, “a day that will live in infamy,” suddenly turned Mary’s quiet life upside-down.

Mary was one of 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. Most of them were American citizens. Mary and the many others in the Japanese American community were forced into a relocation camp by the US government because their loyalty to our country was questioned. Evicted from their home, Mary, her husband, their five-year-old daughter, her elderly in-laws, her teenaged brother and sisters, and other members of her family wound up in a camp in Jerome, Arkansas. There they were incarcerated until authorities were convinced this family of farmers posed no threat to national security.

While detained in the camp, Mary became part of a prisoner-organized effort to provide meaningful educational opportunities for the imprisoned children. Mary taught speech courses for the high school students and English language classes for the elderly. Once she was released from the camp and the war was over, Mary enrolled in college. She completed her degree and became an elementary schoolteacher. In fact, she was one of the first certificated Japanese American teachers in the United States.

This intrepid teacher’s remarkable story is told in her autobiography, We the People, a volume which unfortunately is now out of print. However, with some effort, it can be found through second-hand book sellers or in some libraries (check WorldCat), and it is well worth the hunt. You can read also read her story in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, available through amazon.com.

Tadashi Tsufura: The beloved NYC educator from a WWII Japanese internment camp

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New York City math teacher and principal Tadashi Tsufura spent several years of his childhood in a WWII Japanese internment camp.

There are many talented educators who are stellar teachers largely because they have overcome tough personal circumstances themselves. One of these was Tadashi Tsufura, a math teacher and principal in New York City who spent several years of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.

Tadashi was born on September 17, 1930, in Los Angeles, California. He was the third son of a Buddhist minister and a teacher who immigrated to the United States from Japan.

The youngster’s life changed dramatically on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan. Prejudice against Japanese people living in the United States ran high, and even the US government was guilty of racial profiling. On his 12th birthday, Tadashi and his family were forced by the United States to move to one of the two Gila River internment camps located in a desert valley in Arizona. They were among approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who were interned during the war. Many of those interned were American citizens.

As a young man, Tadashi determined to serve his country in the military. He enlisted in the Army in 1951 and fought on the front lines of the Korean War from until 1953. After his discharge, Tadashi earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Fenn College. The college is now known as Cleveland State University.

Although Tadashi enjoyed success as a chemical engineer, he was not happy in his work. He moved to New York City where his brother was living. Because the city was experiencing a shortage of educators, the scientist decided to try teaching. He completed education courses at Brooklyn College and then accepted a position as a math teacher at two schools in Manhattan.

Before long, Tadashi was promoted to the position of principal of PS 41 in Greenwich Village, where he worked for eight years. Then he was promoted to the position of Deputy Superintendent of District 3 on the Upper West Side. He retired in 1988.

Sadly, Tadashi Tsufura passed away from coronavirus on March 29, 2020, in New York City. He was 89 years old. To read more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, see this link at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.

Marianne Kusaka, teacher and former Mayor of Kauai

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Marianne Kusaka, elementary school teacher and former Mayor of the County of Kauai.

Many fine educators serve their communities as local leaders. One of these is Marianne Kusaka, an elementary school teacher who was also elected Mayor of the County of Kauai in the state of Hawaii.

Marianne was born in Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawaii on September 11, 1935. When she was a youngster, her family in the isolated village of Hana on the Island of Maui. Marianne was raised there.

After she graduated from high school, Marianne attended Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu. She transferred to the University of Northern Colorado. There she earned her degree to become an elementary school teacher.

In 1964, Marianne relocated to the island of Kauai. Since then, she has devoted 33 years of her life as a professional educator, teaching at numerous elementary schools on the island. One of her students at Kapaa Elementary School was Bernard Carvalho, Jr., who later became the mayor of Kauai.

“It is such an honor to live here in this special place,” Marianne expressed in a 2015 interview. “I am honored to have my former students who called me Mrs. Kusaka, now call me Aunty Maryanne — such a warm feeling of respect and aloha — I love it!” she continued. “In some cases, I have become part of their family having taught three generations,” she concluded.

Marianne was still teaching when, in 1994, she was elected mayor of Kauai. While in office, the indefatigable educator launched herself into community beautification projects. Her first project was the clean-up of a beach that had been littered during a hurricane two years prior. She also worked towards refurbishing camp grounds, neighborhood parks, and jogging paths. She also focused attention on increasing tourism in the area.

In 2004, the former teacher retired from politics. But she continued to serve her community on the Board of Directors of the Kauai Museum. In addition, she has been instrumental in staging the area’s Festival of Lights. The celebration honors Hokule‘a, the Hawaiian sailing canoe. The festival features the creations from recycled materials by students from Kauai and Kapaa High Schools.

To read more about this amazing educator, read the full 2015 interview published by the newspaper The Garden Island.

Takeru Nagayoshi named Massachusetts 2020 Teacher of the Year

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Educator Takeru Nagayoshi of New Bedford, Massachusetts, shares his passion for Language Arts with his students.

I enjoy sharing stories about talented educators who have been pubicly recognized for their outstanding work in the classroom. One of these is Takeru Nagayoshi, a high school Language Arts teacher from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Takeru was named his state’s Teacher of the Year.

The honored educator inaugurated his career in education with Teach for America. He admits that teaching wasn’t really something he imagined himself doing long term, but, “I really fell in love with the craft of education,” he said. “Quality teaching is really not about telling kids what to know, but really empowering them to gain the skills so that they can find out what they need to know,” asserts Takeru.

Takeru teaches Advanced Placement English at New Bedford High School. The school serves urban students on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. He has also piloted the research-based AP Capstone program. Less than ten of these programs exists throughout his entire state. In addition to his classroom duties, Takeru coaches colleagues in high-needs districts and serves on an educator diversity task force. This year, he lent his expertise to the launching of an educator leadership program, Southern New England Alumni Leadership Initiative (SNEALI). The program develops local capacity for teachers in the Southern New England area.

For his work, Takeru has earned many accolades. He received the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teacher Leadership Award in 2019. That same year, he garnered the Boston University Young Alumni Award. In 2018, he earned the Sontag Prize in Urban Education.

Takeru graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Teaching from Boston University.

Last year, Takeru encouraged minorities to go into the field of education when hepublished an op-ed piece in the Brown University Daily Herald. “If you’re a person of color and passionate about social justice, try becoming a teacher,” he wrote. “Our presence in the classroom has long-term implications on how future generations will come to navigate race.”

Read more about this chalkboard champion at this link in South Coast Today.