News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Charlie and Deirdre Kanzig are headed to an international school in South Korea. Deirdre will teach and Charlie will supervise counseling.
Two longtime Sisters educators are taking their gig on the road - halfway around the world.
Deirdre and Charlie Kanzig are taking a two-year leave of absence from the Sisters School District to teach at Taejon Christian International School in Taejon, South Korea. The school is an English-speaking pre-K through 12th-grade program with a strong emphasis on sending students to university in the USA and other countries. The approximately 450 students come from some 20 different countries around the world.
The Kanzigs are excited about the new venture, which fulfills a longtime goal.
"Before we had kids, we were interested in teaching internationally," Deirdre told The Nugget.
"We both studied overseas in college," Charlie noted. "After we got married we thought it would be neat to be overseas together, eventually."
Their son Izaak will accompany them, which means he will finish out his senior year abroad.
"He's going to miss his friends of course, and he'll miss our dogs," said Deirdre. However, Charlie said, "I think he sees it as exciting, actually."
Deirdre will teach ninth-grade literature, seventh-grade humanities, and a 6th-8th-grade Bible course. Charlie will be the head of the counseling department.
He relishes the opportunity to work with college-bound students in a culture of high expectations.
"Kids want to go to school in the U.S. or Canada or Australia or Britain," he said. "It's really important that the students matriculate to schools their families find acceptable."
The Kanzigs observed that the culture in South Korea is more test/performance-oriented than U.S. public schools, but that the international school is known for focusing on well-rounded, community-service-oriented kids.
The family will live in a three-bedroom apartment within short walking distance of the campus, in a technology hub of a city of 1.6 million people. They acknowledge some adjustments will be in order.
"Not having easy access to solitude might be a challenge, since we're so spoiled here," Charlie said.
Still, there are many parks and running paths, which is important to a family of runners. Charlie expects to fill out an already busy work schedule by helping out with the school's cross-country team.
The couple also hopes to work in some travel.
"It's very easy access for travel to other countries, which is something we're looking forward to," Deirdre said.
Charlie noted that both will return to Sisters, where they've worked for nearly two decades, with skills honed in a different culture. Charlie expects to learn things about the international university admissions process that will be of direct benefit to Sisters students upon their return.
The family departs on July 23. School starts for them on August 12. They expect to return to Sisters for a visit before school here lets out next year.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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