Sea Kings, have you noticed a different face in the Assistant Principal’s room? No, it’s not Brett Kuykendall, but Dr. Charles Park. Although it may seem that Sea Kings are not familiar with Park, besides knowing he is our assistant principal, he’s not as different as we think.
At the age of seven, Park moved to Stanton, California from Seoul, Korea. He explains that Korea and California were two very different countries.
“The school system in Korea was that the students go to school Monday through Saturday from 8 o’clock to 5 o’clock,” Park explained. That would be a problem for many Sea Kings, already complaining about the long school days. As a transfer student, it took him about five or six years to really learn English. Park also admits, “the first place I went to was Chuck E Cheese.”
Park then attended Hickory Elementary School, followed by Bert Lynn Middle School, and West High School in Torrance, California- just 8.3 miles away from Palos Verdes High School. When he was a student at West High School, he was a student of one of our famous teachers here at PV High- Eva Stamper, the chemistry honors and AP teacher. Well, Park was a former student of Stamper’s at West High School.
“She is by far my favorite teacher. Her reputation was that she was the toughest, the fairest, and the nicest…. I didn’t even get an A in that class, but I still think that is one of the best classes”
After successfully graduating from West High School, Park attended Pepperdine University where he majored in biochemistry. His love for teaching was surprisingly “by accident.”
“I had a speech class, and the professor was not showing up to class. I was sort of his default teacher assistant, so the professor started to make me teach class and I would get in front and teach from the book. The professor started to become late and absent more and more and I had to come up with my own lessons…. I taught probably 80% of that class”. As a sophomore, Park taught his upperclassmen in speech class and his love for teaching became evident. He changed his major to education, and proceeded to the University of Southern California, where he received his Ed. D.
Park has had 15 years of experience in education, including “eight years in administration, ” Park said. Currently the assistant principal of PV High, his three goals are
“to really implement the capstone project, help the teachers teach by project based learning, and help students to do their best using technology.” He also states that another goal to consider is have more availability in language, such as Japanese and Korean. His choice to become the assistant principal of PV High was strongly due to our principal, Dr. Nick Stephany.
“Dr. Stephany is one of the best principals in the state and that’s one of the reasons why I chose to pick this job.”
Park is currently married and has two daughter- Lauren, one year old, and Emily, four months old. His personal goal is “to become a better Dad,” states Park. Due to his busy schedule with meetings, he explains that he feels the need to increase the time with his children.
Once a Warrior, and now a Seaking. Who will he root for during the West High vs Palos Verdes High games? Park strongly stated, “not even a doubt, I am a Sea King.”