The Language of Belonging

It's easy to understand why Mid Valley Elementary has been a part of nearly every chapter of Kim's life. She attended school there as a little girl, returned years later as a teacher, and today serves as the school's principal. Outside her office window sits the community that raised her. She can see the orchards stretching across Odell, all the same roads she traveled as a child. She has known some of the same families for generations. Mid Valley is her work and a place she calls home.

Mid Valley is a K-5, dual-lingual elementary school. Kim's passion for preserving language is deeply personal. Her great-grandparents immigrated from Japan, and she grew up hearing Japanese spoken within her family. But after the hardships her grandparents and great-grandparents endured during the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, speaking Japanese publicly no longer felt safe for her family. Over time, the language quietly faded from their everyday life. Looking back, Kim feels her family lost a relationship to part of their heritage. And that experience has shaped the way she views the children in her own classrooms.

Every day she watches Spanish-speaking students enter the school and can’t help but recognize the incredible gift they already possess. She didn’t want to ask the children to leave that part of themselves behind and she became determined to help them protect, strengthen, and carry it proudly into their future. And she didn’t. As you walk through Mid Valley, you'll find children confidently raising their hands, reading in two languages, helping classmates, and moving effortlessly between English and Spanish. "I think maybe it was that piece that I was like, yeah, my family lost their Japanese, but by God, these kids should not lose Spanish. Like, this shouldn't happen again."

Today, some of the children who once attended have returned to Mid Valley as members of the school's staff. This younger staff brings their bilingual skills and lived experiences back to the next generation of students.

Growing up, Kim's world had been woven through different cultures. She had her family history in Japanese, and many of her closest friends came from Spanish-speaking families in the Odell community.

Kim attended the University of Oregon, where she pursued Spanish. She was drawn to the language and the people she had grown up alongside. Watching her own family's Japanese language quietly fade made her want to help others hold tightly to theirs. She didn't want another generation of children to lose the language that connected them to their families and culture because losing a language meant losing stories, traditions, and conversations that connect one generation to the next.

After graduating from the University of Oregon, Kim spent several years teaching in Monmouth and Hermiston. But once she became a mother, home began calling her back. "Once I had a baby," she recalls with a laugh, "I was like, nope, we got to come back." She returned to Mid Valley as an English Language Development teacher, where an unexpected opportunity soon emerged. Alongside Principal Dennis McCauley and a fellow teacher, Kim began exploring a new approach to bilingual education. It was built upon a child's home language rather than replacing it.

As the program took shape, Kim never asked families to place their trust in something she wasn't willing to trust herself. When Mid Valley opened its first dual-language kindergarten classroom, her oldest daughter became one of its very first students. "That was one of my daughter's classes," Kim says. "She started in kindergarten." Later, her younger daughter followed the same path. "I also wanted our parents to see, I believe in this so much that my kids go in this program." Today, both of her daughters are bilingual.

Not everyone understood at first; in fact, some of the educators worried that teaching children in Spanish would slow their English. One teacher finally asked if she could sit in and watch Kim's classroom. The observation actually showed the students who were often quiet, now animated. The classroom had many students, eagerly asking questions, sharing ideas, and participating without hesitation. She observed children who felt confident enough to be fully themselves. It soon became a critical juncture for the school to honor a child's first language. They found that doing this first unlocked far more than just vocabulary.

Over the past 20 years, Mid Valley's dual-language program has grown from a single kindergarten classroom into a schoolwide model. “Now our entire school straight through every classroom is dual language instruction,"Kim says.

Walk the halls of Mid Valley, you will hear English in one classroom, Spanish in the next, and a blend of both in play and laughter. The school holds space for the students to respond in whichever language helps them express themselves best. This rhythm is completely natural here. Every child is encouraged to see their language, culture, and identity as something to celebrate, not something to leave behind.

Kim never talks about the accomplishments as though they belong to her alone. She is far more interested in talking about her teachers, her staff, and the families who have trusted Mid Valley with their children year after year. "We have great kids," she says.

Then, almost immediately, she adds, "...and our families."

Children’s home language isn't something to overcome, because culture isn't something to hide. It's part of who they are, and it deserves to be celebrated. By honoring students before asking them to grow, Kim has helped create a school where confidence often begins before academics do. The school is unique this way. They are teaching children to value their own voices.

“I don't think you could ever say enough great things about my teachers, my instructional assistants, my teaching staff, my support staff. They are a phenomenal group who are dedicated and want the best they can give to each and every kid here." Then she jokes, "There should be an award for being just marvelous humans and loving kids. We don't have a banner that says that."

This fall, Mid Valley will take another step forward in our community when it opens its first dual-language preschool, welcoming its youngest learners before they even begin kindergarten.

Today, children who begin in preschool at Mid Valley can remain in the dual-language program all the way through fifth grade.

The true measure of Kim’s work hasn’t earned any plaques or trophies. But there will be many generations of students who will leave Mid Valley proud of who they are and where they come from. Some of those students have already returned to the school as members of the staff, helping the next generation learn the same lessons they once did. Some of the Mid Valley students will become engineers, doctors, teachers, and community leaders. Others will become parents who pass two languages on to their children.

And somewhere along the way, they'll remember a principal who believed those gifts were worth protecting.

Mid Valley Elementary School is located at 3686 Davis Dr, Hood River. For questions about enrollment, call 541.354.1691.