"The College of Education provided me with so many great opportunities to explore the different realms of education, and when I went to Kenya that is where I first started learning about international schools and schools in developing cultures," Chow said.
Because of her experiences with the various student-teaching and volunteer programs at Penn State, Chow said she made up her mind that she wanted to work at an urban school with students from diverse backgrounds. It was her hope to stay in north Philadelphia after her student-teaching practicum ended, but fate had other plans.
"When I graduated, I would have loved to have stayed and taught in Philly but the year I graduated, Philadelphia School District was on a hiring freeze," she said. At the same time, Virginia was experiencing a teacher shortage and teaching positions were in high demand, especially for special education teachers.
"I ended up teaching for Alexandria City Public Schools and Fairfax County for three years and I loved it because when I looked around my classroom, it was so incredibly diverse with kids from Pakistan, Vietnam, El Salvador and so many other cultures," Chow said.
Taking an 8,500-mile 'LEAP'
As her love for diverse classrooms grew so did her desire to be that representation that Schmidt described during her freshman year. And in 2013 Chow found herself at the start of a new teaching adventure in the Philippines — 8,516 miles from State College, Pennsylvania.
"The school I teach at here in the Philippines is called Faith Academy. It is a private, international Christian school and the majority of our students are here because their parents are working in NGO (nongovernmental organization) roles," Chow said.
Faith Academy is a day and boarding school that enrolls students in grades PK (age 3) to 12 from multiple countries including China, the United States, Philippines and South Korea, among others. According to Chow, the number of students categorized as English Language Learners (ELLs) changes with the increase of non-English speaking passport countries represented. With those changes in diversity come changes to students' needs as well, she said.