Dear HOPE Community Academy,
Imagine waking up before dawn, while darkness still lingers. You rise quietly to light a small fire on the dirt floor beside your bed – not only for warmth and light at 4 a.m., but to prepare breakfast and pack lunch for the long day ahead. After washing your face and gathering your strength, you prepare a warm meal for your parents and six siblings before beginning the four-mile walk up and down the mountainside to the family’s rice field.
As the sun climbs high and the heat bears down immediately above your head, you pause at midday to gather in the small tsev teb to share a simple lunch that restores your energy before returning to the harvest. When the sun sets and your mother’s face is barely visible beneath the dust and effort of the day, it was time to return home. While water boils for the family’s evening bath, you prepare dinner, giving thanks for another day’s work – only to begin again the next day, and the day after that.
My mother was ten years old when this was her daily life. This is not just her story – it is the story of countless Hmong and Southeast Asian families. For many of our parents and grandparents, survival took precedence over education. Their days were spent not in classrooms, but in the fields. It was war that disrupted that rhythm, and out of that disruption, these stories became a legacy – the legacy of the Hmong people.
That was 1975. Fifty years later, our elders’ sacrifices have transformed into opportunities. They laid the foundation so that their children and grandchildren would no longer have to labor under the same hardship, but instead could pursue education and hope.
Here in America, in St. Paul, MN, education is not only a right – it is an opportunity. HOPE Community Academy embodies that opportunity. As the first Hmong charter school in the nation, HOPE ignited a movement -a movement that gave Hmong families the power to choose the education their children deserve.
It is both a privilege and an honor to be selected as the next Executive Director of HOPE. I accept this role with deep humility, gratitude, and excitement to continue the legacy built by all of you and my predecessor, Maychy Vue. Together, we will honor the foundation she laid while forging ahead with new dreams and aspirations. This achievement belongs not to one person, but to our entire community. Each of you – our board of directors, teachers, staff, students, families and community partners – have played, and will continue to play, an essential role in our ongoing success.
My first commitment as your leader is to cultivate a work culture rooted in trust, transparency, and transformation. I cannot, and will not, do this alone. Together, we will build a school community that is welcoming, equitable, and inclusive for all.
As a school, we must continuously seek growth, innovation, and creativity beyond traditional education. We live in a world that is constantly changing, that is why comfort is not our destination. Instead, we must be bold – exploring new ways of teaching, learning, and leading. Reminding us that if it weren’t for our parents’ and grandparents’ desire to change and transform, we would not be here today.
We will do this together -with pride, with purpose, and with the unshakable belief that the legacy of HOPE will continue to shine for generations to come.
I look forward to working alongside each and all of you.
UA TSAUG.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kevin Koobmeej Xiong
Executive Director