Joanne Kim is the new Head of High School at Northwest Academy. Kim, who began teaching English and History at NWA in January 2020, replaced Dan Dunning this summer.
Kim applied for the position because she wanted to have a more significant role in helping the community grow.
“I really love our school,” Kim said. “I often tell people that I have been a teacher for a long time but Northwest Academy is where I got to be the kind of teacher I want to be. I really feel very grateful for that and felt that there were ways that I could contribute and give back to the community beyond what I was already doing as a teacher.”
Part of Kim’s vision for NWA’s high school is to strengthen community engagement among students by creating an advisory committee, having a club fair, increasing advisory time, planning interactive high school events and more.
“I am really interested in the way the high school is building community and reflection on what it means to be part of a community,” Kim said. “I know that I was harping on this a bit in the beginning of the year with the retreats, the high school meeting and new family orientations.”
Chris Schuck, Head of School, is confident that Kim will succeed and is excited to see what she will do.
“Joanne brings a combination of earnestness and energy that is just hard to beat,” Schuck said. “From the beginning, her interactions with faculty and staff, with students and also with the administrative team have been really focused on reviewing what we are doing well and what we need to do differently.”
Schuck is also impressed with what Kim has accomplished in her short time in the position, such as the all-school trip to tick, tick… BOOM!
‘Joanne and Simone [Coker-Kamna, Marketing and Communications & Community Engagement Director], arranged for the venture to the Artist Repertory Theater because it was an interesting opportunity and because it’s a great way to open a year and create a sense of community and shared experience,” Schuck said. “I think that notion will be a part of what Joanne brings.”
Coco Brandabur, a sophomore, is excited to have Kim as head of high school after being in her freshman English class.
“She was always really organized, and really involved with people,” Brandabur said. “[She] cares a lot about the high school as a whole. She was able to make a community and show she cared.”
Zadie Niedergang, a senior, believes that Kim has connected with the student body and is going to make positive changes to the school. She met Kim when she joined the seniors on their retreat before the school year began.
“I think Joanne, considering that most of the seniors didn’t know her and hadn’t met her before, has done a really good job of telling us what she was doing and what her plans were for the new year,” Niedergang said. “I think most of the seniors have a lot of faith in her, really like her and are excited to see what she is going to do as Head of High School.”
Before coming to NWA, Kim taught middle and high school in Los Angeles. Although Kim has been on the NWA faculty for two years, many students are getting acquainted with her for the first time this year due to COVID-19.
Julie Ellington, who teaches Senior Thesis and French at NWA, believes that Kim has what it takes to lead the school.
“She has a lot of gumption and a lot of vision mixed with a lot of compassion and a universal curiosity to understand what everyone is experiencing and what everybody needs,” Ellington said. “I think those are very helpful qualities for someone in her position.”
Dunning has returned to teaching and is the self study coordinator at NWA.
“I had missed teaching every day since taking on the Head of High School role, and I began to notice that I missed it more and more as time went on,” Dunning said. “I did a lot of reflecting about how I might find a balance at NWA that recognized the pull I felt toward getting back into the classroom.”
Dunning is also confident that Kim will be an excellent leader of the high school.
“Joanne has so many strengths that will support her success as head of high school that she is certainly not in need of advice from me!” Dunning said. “I am thrilled that she is in this role and know that the high school community will thrive with her leadership.”
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