January/February 2024 Staff Spotlight: Mei Hu

Mei is originally from the southern part of China. She says that she always wanted to be an educator from an early age, inspired by her two parents who were also teachers. “From my childhood I saw how teachers’ positive words influenced young minds.” Mei continued, “As a teacher, I enjoy seeing students’ smiling faces and the dynamic learning process with them.”

After moving to the Twin Cities to complete her Master of Education degree from the University of Minnesota, Mei worked in public education as a world language teacher after obtaining her K-12 teacher license. She continued living in Minnesota until 2015 when she moved to Austin, noting that she “survived” ten Minnesota winters.

In the classroom, Me talks about her love for seeing students progress. She shared, “I feel rewarded when my students make progress, give me a ‘thank you’ card, or just take a funny photo with me. In a way, students inspire me to be a better person.” She chose the Headwaters community and strongly identifies with the school’s Purpose, Promise, PACT, and IB program. “I believe that foreign language learning expands our view of the world, liberalizes our experiences, and makes us more flexible and tolerant,” Mei wrote in her biography.

Outside of school, Mei loves to be outside in Austin! Whether it’s a jog in the park,visiting gardens, or playing sports (she’s a fan of Ping Pong and a beginner tennis player!), she loves being active and having fun. Mei also shared that she loves music and is a fan of NPR. 

We also wanted to share an exciting accomplishment for Mei and Hilda Reilly (fellow Headwaters Guide who teaches Spanish). Both Mei and Hilda presented at the recent Conference on Instruction for Multilingual Advancement on January 27, 2024. Their presentation was a collaboration and continued efforts to improve our students’ experiences and to make language learning real, meaningful, and tangible. Congratulations to both Mei and Hilda on this wonderful achievement. 

 

"Headwaters is a very supportive community. All the students call the guides by their first names and can find help from guides any time. People are very nice to each other. It's like a big family. I like the small class size. I like the smiles on students' faces. I like the Forward with lots of interactions from students. The teenagers make me feel young again! I am also grateful for the supportive administration team and colleagues."