The media center looked different that day. Shelves had been moved to make room for a small table covered with colorful paper toys, a tea set, and knick-knacks I had no names for. Standing by it, wearing a garden of flowers on fabric that shined under the fluorescent lights, a woman held a picture book she would soon read to my kindergarten class. As she read the book she would pause to show us the trinkets on the table that were also in the story–all real and brought from her life in a country half a world away from ours. She invited us to wonder about the pictures, hold and look closely at her tea cups, and try making toys out of paper just like the ones she had on the table. Perhaps most fascinating to me was the tea she brought for us to try. It was not cold, black, and sweet like the tea my mother made. It was hot and green, but somehow it was still tea. I took a risk and a sip. I didn’t know until then that you could taste color. 

If not for that morning in the media center, I may never have left my small town, let alone found myself in Japan. That experience sent me back to my classroom with questions that I still find answers to to this very day. It may have been more pivotal in shaping both my love for books and for the people I share this planet with than any other. It may also be my earliest memory of inquiry.

Since moving to Tokyo in 2017, I have had the privilege of working with young learners aged 3 – 6 through the IB PYP framework within the Aoba School Group. In 2022, I took on the role of PYP Coordinator at Aoba-Japan Bilingual Preschool’s Waseda Campus, where I have had the honor of serving and learning alongside our community. In 2026 I am excited to expand this role to Summerhill International School, connecting with a new community while learning and growing as an educator. Together I hope to inspire Summerhill’s children to play, inquire, and look for wonder half a world or more away where the tea might not be green, but cold, black, and sweet.