When Loreina Hsien graduated in August 2025 with dual master’s degrees in education from Arts & Sciences and social work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, she expected to pursue a career in international development, policy advocacy or Indigenous cultural preservation.
Instead, less than a year later, she found herself teaching English language arts at a middle school on Chicago’s West Side, where educators and students contend with long-standing challenges, including underinvestment, community violence, and high teacher turnover.
The path was unexpected. But Hsien said the classroom became a place where years of experience in education, Indigenous initiatives, international relations, and trauma-informed practice converged.
“I thought my path would continue through international cross-disciplinary work and Indigenous cultural preservation,” she said. “What changed was not my mission, but the setting. I realized I was bringing everything I had learned into this classroom.”
A native of Taiwan and former Fulbright Scholar, Hsien built a career at the intersection of global education, Indigenous cultural revitalization, community development, and cultural diplomacy before coming to WashU.
In Taiwan, she led educational initiatives connecting diplomats, scholars, educators and Indigenous communities across multiple countries. As a Fulbright Scholar at Michigan State University, she developed curricula linking Indigenous youth in Taiwan, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. The work took her to Indigenous communities in more than a dozen U.S. states, where she collaborated with Tribal leaders, educators, Elders, and students.
At WashU, Hsien worked through the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies on projects with the Saint Louis Zoo focused on traditional foodways and native pollinators, as well as with the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
Those experiences, she said, shaped her understanding of cultural resilience and the importance of helping young people recognize their strengths and stories.
After graduation, Hsien entered a national landscape marked by funding cuts affecting education, social services, public programs, and international development. Around the same time, a tornado damaged her home in St. Louis, forcing her to navigate personal uncertainty while planning her next steps.
Rather than pulling her away from her goals, Hsien said the challenges clarified them.
She began looking for opportunities where her training in social work and education, combined with her Indigenous community-based work, could address urgent local needs. That search led her to a public school on Chicago’s West Side.
When Hsien arrived midway through the school year, she became the eighth teacher students had seen in two years.
Rather than viewing students’ resistance as a barrier, she saw it as a reasonable response to repeated disruption. She focused on consistency, trust and creating a classroom where students felt seen and respected.
“I quickly realized I was utilizing everything I learned from the Brown School. My training in relationship-building, cultural identity, and community-centered learning became incredibly essential here,” she said. “When young people have experienced repeated turnover, especially in a neighborhood affected by gun violence, trust has to be earned. They are carrying a lot of pain. I’m not just facing individual students. I’m facing the effects of trauma, inequality, and everything happening in the community around them.”
She added: “I saw students who were thoughtful, creative, and full of insight. My responsibility was to create the conditions where those strengths could come forward.”
Hsien initially introduced mindfulness exercises and structured writing assignments focused on purpose and self-reflection. When those approaches didn’t immediately resonate, she adapted, incorporating students’ interest in music, dance, family history and creative writing.
Assignments evolved into projects centered on community identity, cultural heritage and student voice. In one project, students created digital portfolios exploring the role of dance across cultures. Hsien also partnered with local youth organizations and invited community members to share traditions, including African dance.
Within four months, she said, students who had resisted writing were producing multi-paragraph essays and participating more actively in class discussions. More important, many began using the classroom as a space to reflect on identity, relationships, choices and community.
Students later reflected on her impact.
“You taught me how to think, not just what to think,” one student wrote. Another said, “You helped shape my identity and the decisions I make.”
For Hsien, those reflections echoed lessons from her earlier work with Indigenous education and international youth exchange programs.
“The communities may be different, but the human need is very similar,” Hsien said. “People want to be seen, valued, and connected to something larger than themselves. Whether I was working with Indigenous communities, building international exchanges, or teaching on Chicago’s West Side, meaningful education begins with relationships.”
She said teaching has become a direct extension of her broader goals in community-centered education and social impact.
“Community development begins with people,” Hsien said. “Education is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen communities, cultivate leadership, and create opportunity. Whether the work happens in a large international organization or in a neighborhood classroom, the purpose remains the same.”