Advancing from substitute teacher for two years in all grades at different schools to working as a paraprofessional at a pre-school for four years, Mrs. Hyejin Choo is now fulfilling her goal of being an art teacher.

This native of Seoul, South Korea, earned her Master’s degree in Art Education at Florida State University.

“Becoming a professional artist was my childhood dream, but I realized it took too much commitment for me,” Mrs. Choo said. “So, I thought teaching art would be the second best choice as an art lover.”

Entering the classroom two months after the start of the school year had its challenges, but Mrs. Choo stuck to her goals.

“It is hard to get students to be creative when they are assigned to Art,” Mrs. Choo said. “My goal is to prepare diverse lessons to help them understand and enjoy the visual world they live in.”

There can be many reasons for why people get interested in art and the way they see art.

“I enjoy webtoons because of the diverse subject matter and drawing style of authors,” Mrs. Choo said.

Mrs. Choo likes the diversity of the population of students here the best.

“As an immigrant myself, I like to meet the students from immigrant families,” Mrs. Choo said. “It is nice to feel that I connected to them.”