David Choi

Jan 9

This month’s installment of our Community Spotlight series features Korean-American Humanities teacher at Bronx International High School (BxIHS), David Choi. Before beginning his tenure at Bronx International HS, David taught English at a school in Korea for two years. Speaking about this experience, he says “it was my first official teaching job. I had an amazing experience there.” David says he didn’t realize that he wanted to teach until he completed his bachelors degree at the University of Michigan - teaching in Korea was what inspired him to become a teacher back here in the U.S. Later, he graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2018 and started teaching at Bronx International High School.

Speaking of his four years at BxIHS, David says he “loves teaching and working with youth.” Bronx International High is a competency based school, where instead of giving students just a grade the teachers assess their progress. In this model, BxIHS students are not expected to take the standard NYS Regents exam. Instead, “students are given a more holistic exposure to lots of different types of writing, reading, and all these things. Because we don’t have to teach towards the test we have more flexibility towards the course. So it’s actually nice to be able to teach about current issues and we’re not having them memorize names, dates, or places.”

Beam Center’s partnership with Bronx International High School started in 2014. Since then, our Project Designers have been partnering with the teachers and facilitating hands-on projects each year. Expanding our partnership in recent years, one of our Fall 2021 Apprenticeship cohorts were hosted at BxIHS, and students there also created their own additions to the CONSTELLATION sculptures which were later installed at the Andrew Freedman Home in spring 2022.

For the last two years, youth from BxIHS have been coming to Beam Camp City through their Summer Rising program, and David has served as chaperone alongside other teachers. David says that during summer 2021 Beam Camp City was an opportunity for their students to be with one another for the first time since the pandemic began. Students collaborated with youth employed by Beam Center to create CONSTELLATION, a six-piece sculpture installation designed by artist Ye Qin Zhu. David added, “They collaborated, became friends, and had the opportunity to meet other students from around the city. All of our students are immigrants and are sometimes limited to the Bronx bubble, so it was wonderful seeing them form bonds with other teenagers they would have otherwise not met.”

Speaking about his experience at Beam Camp City, David says it helped forge a better relationship with his students. “There’s a lot of times schools can be very top down, where it's only teachers to students,” he says, adding that it was different at Beam Camp City. Here at Beam, we work with youth as collaborators instead of us teaching them. David says, “The biggest change was my relationship with my students. I feel like we got a lot closer especially because remote learning created a very big distance between student and teacher. Being able to work with high schoolers in that context or with Beam staff, we were kind of like coworkers, and that shaped my view towards students a little more. It felt more like a mentor relationship with my students.”

In addition to forging better relationships with the students, David says Beam Camp City gave him “another chance to witness how education can take place outside of the classroom. He added, “As someone not from NY, it was also inspiring seeing a local organization like Beam helping their community and providing opportunities for youth to gain valuable leadership and work experience. The staff at Beam are all incredibly passionate, talented, and caring individuals and it's no wonder the people flock to work with Beam. I'm very fortunate to have become friends with these wonderful people.”

When asked what changes he saw in his students after Beam Camp City, David shares that they became more “confident in themselves and feel empowered. There are many opportunities that are hands-on through Beam so in a very direct way, students feel like they are actively doing something for their community and are a part of something bigger than themselves. Students also come out of their shells and learn about other perspectives as they become friends with youth from all around the city.”