When Joanna Choi Kalbus took the gavel at ASCD's Annual Conference in March to begin her term as ASCD President, she told the crowd that a circle had just closed in her life—and a new one had just begun.
For Kalbus, San Francisco has always been a place of new beginnings. Born in North Korea, she and her mother escaped to South Korea after the communist takeover. Soon after, the Korean War broke out, and they fled to the United States. As their ship sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge to a new life, Kalbus remembers looking up and "wondering if the mast would touch the bridge, the most beautiful bridge I'd ever seen."
For that reason, the city with the Golden Gate Bridge will always be "a poignant place," explains Kalbus. "It's a spiritual experience to go back to San Francisco 50 years later to become President of an international and distinguished organization such as ASCD."
Que Sera, Sera
Kalbus's journey as an educator began with encouragement from her mother, whom Kalbus cites as her greatest teacher. As a little girl, Kalbus borrowed a verse from Doris Day's popular song, "Que Sera, Sera," and asked her mother what she would be when she grew up. Her mother replied, if she wanted to work with the body, be a doctor. But if she wanted to work with young minds and shape the future, be a teacher. "Faced with that choice, what would you choose?" asks Kalbus.
As a teacher, Kalbus worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she taught in Watts during the riots. But rather than the violence, Kalbus remembers the students. She calls her experience in south central Los Angeles "my most rewarding times. Those student needed so much. It's most rewarding to work with students for whom real opportunity is what we could do in the classroom and school."
Kalbus continued her own education while she taught and eventually became principal at the elementary and junior high levels. "I thought it was wonderful to have an impact on 30 children [as a teacher], but realized I could make a difference for a whole school population as principal," she explains.
Later, she went on to influence even more children in her role as assistant superintendent in Palm Springs Unified School District and in various leadership positions—including regional superintendent—in the San Bernardino County Office of Education.
Now an education lecturer at the University of California, Riverside, Kalbus is able to combine many of her interests, including research and teaching education administration students. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling with her husband, Lee, a chemistry professor emeritus at California State University.
Passion for Excellence and Equity
Kalbus joined ASCD early in her career "for the professional development" and then became active in California ASCD, where she served in leadership positions, including executive secretary and president. As affiliate president, she attended ASCD Board of Director meetings and then decided to run for (and won) ASCD member-at-large, eventually becoming a member of the ASCD Executive Council.
"Not only have I embraced serving ASCD because of its work, but it has been a great learning opportunity for me," Kalbus notes. "I continue to learn because of all the wonderful educators I've been privileged to meet."
One reason Kalbus wanted to work in a leadership capacity for ASCD is because of its mission as a diverse, international community of educators working to educate all learners. "I am passionate about educating students for both excellence and equity," she declares.
Based on her experiences, Kalbus describes the future of education as bright. An expectant first-time grandparent, Kalbus recently received a copy of her grandson's sonogram from her son. Noting that sonograms were not available when she had her son and daughter, Kalbus says, "these advances couldn't have been made if the education community didn't do its job." She foresees more advances in the years ahead. "We need to prepare for the future. How? That's a good segue to some of my dreams for my ASCD presidency."
Strengthening Ties, Building Bridges
As President, Kalbus would like to strengthen bonds between ASCD and its affiliates and among other ASCD constituencies. Observing that teachers and principals—"the frontline educators"—make up more than half of ASCD's membership, Kalbus wants to "make sure we give them the support they need, in terms of resources and professional development."
Kalbus would also like ASCD to reach out to educators around the world in pursuit of its mission to improve teaching and learning for all students. "Children are starving in North Korea," she says, "I wonder what kind of education they are getting?" Kalbus's vision for ASCD includes international partnerships and alliances, such as an ASCD affiliate in South Korea that could work to help children in North Korea.
To reach these goals, the extended family of educators "needs to work together. The future of education will be bright only if we work for it," Kalbus states. "Until we overcome the obstacles to communication and actualize interdependence of the world, we need to work hard."
As Kalbus begins her journey as ASCD President, ASCD members can be assured that she will remain focused on her goals and dreams for children around the world. After all, every year she returns to the place where many of her dreams began—San Francisco—to run in the Bay to Breakers 12K race. For her it's a "symbolic gesture, an affirmation of her life," both personally and professionally.