MACON, Ga. — One Springdale Elementary art teacher has gained local and statewide recognition for being a leader in the classroom.
Cindy Quan Hong was named Springdale Elementary's Teacher of the 2021-2022 School Year.
She also made Georgia Trend Magazine's "40 Under 40" list and was featured in Macon Magazine's "5 Under 40" list last week.
She says dropping a high school chemistry class is how she discovered her passion for art.
"I was constantly doodling. Numbers and formulas just weren't my thing at that point," Hong said.
Her chemistry teacher encouraged her to switch to art class, and she did.
"It's been art for me ever since," said Hong.
That one class changed her life and helped her discover that she would like to teach what she loves to children.
For 16 years, Hong has been an art teacher -- and she hasn't looked back.
"This is me -- art is what I live for. There's art everywhere, around you, in cultures, in our society, in television shows, in books, on the street," she said.
She says one of her favorite things about teaching art is how hands-on it is.
"Getting their hands into it. I'm a very visual learner and most of the students that I've encountered are visual by nature and they learn better when they can actually get their hands inside," she said.
Hong says she had to reinvent the ways that she taught because of the pandemic.
"How do you go back to teaching behind the screen when you don't have supplies? How do you maintain safety versus art?" she said.
She says not being able to see her students motivated her to find other ways to teach.
"I started a Facebook page, my own YouTube channel. I was trying to reach out to my students who would normally not have access to it. We had students who sometimes couldn't log in or had connection issues but they could access those lessons when they could," said Hong.
She also held socially-distanced art classes outside for students that she was unable to see.
She says she's working to create more opportunities for students outside of school through her involvement with Triangle Arts Macon, 567 Center for Renewal, The Museum of Arts and Sciences, and stARTup studios.
"I want my students to be independent. I want them to know that with their critical thinking skills that I've given them in my class [that] it does not matter how fast a door revolves or how slow, they can make it on their own, and that they can be their own leaders and leaders for other people," Hong said.
She says these recognitions are a step in the right direction, and that she will continue to motivate her students so that they can be the best versions of themselves.
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