Ms. Yin Gao was well known to her students as a wise and friendly teacher. Ms. Gao started at PCS as a Chinese teacher in 2021 when she moved to Santa Cruz. Sadly, Ms. Gao announced that she would end her career here in 2023. Although we will miss her, we must wish her the best in life. Ms. Gao said that she always really liked Santa Cruz because it reminded her of her hometown in a coastal city in China. She also mentioned how she always liked teaching foreign languages, and when she saw the opportunity to teach her native language in Santa Cruz she took it right away. Although Ms. Gao has not been here for very long, she has helped the world language program improve drastically. Since day one, Ms. Gao has presented her students with a “safe and comfortable environment for her students to look forward to during the day.” Ms. Gao’s first impression of the school was a “small community… students and teachers are always nice.”

Ms. Gao’s interest in foreign languages was sparked when she decided to learn Japanese in college. She then went on to study French in the following years, before coming to PCS. Ms. Gao taught English in China for around 10 years. She then moved to Canada where she went to school for her Master’s degree, and then moved to America. Before working at PCS, Ms. Gao worked with many different organizations to teach Chinese.

Ms. Gao says that she was surprised when some of her students sent her cards during teacher appreciation week. She says, “When the student surprisingly sent me some cards during some appreciation day, I felt everything was worth it.” She also expressed her love for her students when she got to see them perform in poetry showcases and presentations at this year’s 2023 world language showcase.

Overall, Ms. Gao says that her favorite part of working at PCS is teaching her native language and she loves to create different learning opportunities for her students. She says that she loves seeing her students have fun with different activities and learn Chinese at the same time. She says she will miss the “friendly community” the most at PCS: “It’s a lovely community, I don’t know if I will be able to find a community like this anymore.” And although we will miss her very much, Ms. Gao is ready to continue her journey in life as a new parent trying a new career path.