Seattle's Child

Your guide to a kid-friendly city

Congratulations unsung hero: Julie Kang

Seattle’s Child recognizes the wonderful, everyday heroes nominated for the Washington Unsung Hero Awards this month.

 

 

February is Parent Recognition Month. Strengthening Families Washington, of the Department of Early Learning for Washington State, believes there is no better way to recognize a parent, grandparent, foster or adoptive parent than by acknowledging the numerous and impressive things they do to strengthen their family and those around them in their community.

Seattle’s Child is proud to sponsor the Washington Unsung Hero Awards, recognizing our everyday heroes and honoring the important role caregivers play in children’s lives. There are 28 nominees for the 28 days of February, and Seattle’s Child will highlight each and every one.

 

Congratulations to the Unsung Hero for February 12

Julie Kang – Seattle

I would like to nominate Julie Kang, our United Seattle Korean School Principal, for the Unsung Hero Award. As the principal, not only does she demonstrate five protective factors for her daughter, she also demonstrates them as a “parent” for over 160 students in our weekend school. She volunteers countless hours to be a role model that demonstrates “parental resilience.” Having grown up as an immigrant child with a single parent, she did not let poverty, gender and immigrant status hinder her from being a teacher. Not only did she overcome challenges in life, but she demonstrates resilience and is an example of hope for our immigrant community children.

Principal Kang also nurtures social connection and provides social connections for us. She always connects resources to our immigrant community and seeks grants to supplement our Korean School. The biggest social connection she provides is the community she helped to create within the weekend Korean School. She brings parents together for trainings and invites experts to share their knowledge with our parents. She became a Love and Logic and Positive Discipline trainer so that she can be a better parent and to provide trainings in Korean for parents who need knowledge of parenting and child development. Even though Koreans usually have a hard time addressing the social and emotional competence of children, she is changing the parenting practice. Not only does Principal Kang demonstrate excellent parenting for her child, she teaches us and is a role model parent.

Nominator: Eunice Jung


Singing the Praises of Our Unsung Heroes

Read about all of the wonderful, everyday heroes who have won Washington Unsung Hero Awards: seattleschild.com/2015-Unsung-Heroes.

About the Author

Taryn Zier