Esther Cho, Dominican Republic Summer Youth Facilitator, 2010

Esther is a recent graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, where she completed her Masters degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), K-12. Her experiences working with children born into brothels in India during the summer of 2006 drew her into teaching. Since then, she has served as an assistant teacher at the University of Michigan’s English Language Program, volunteered with A Place for Kids after-school program in Chinatown NYC, and was a student teacher at PS 84 in Manhattan and Brooklyn International High School.

While living and working in New York City, Esther developed an interest and commitment to social justice, and a particular compassion for the urban, underprivileged, immigrant population. She believes in investing in youth through mentorship relationships, and feels privileged to be working with GP youth participants as they venture abroad and discover the needs of the world while untapping individual talents and strengths in the process.

Esther is of Korean descent, but was born and raised in NY and thus considers herself to be Korean-American. She enjoys learning about other cultures and languages, playing football and rooting for the Giants, collecting jerseys, and parodying songs for her students. She aspires to learn soccer & guitar, and to one day return to India to teach.