Welcome Letter

Greetings and salutations!

Although I met several of you before school started, I wanted to introduce myself more formally. First and probably most importantly, I am highly allergic to cilantro. I have been to the emergency room this summer just by breathing it. If you send your child’s lunch to school, please, avoid cilantro. After lunch, I will be building a routine for students to use the bathroom and wash hands because the cafeteria manager told me that cilantro is used extensively in our cafeteria.

Second is a bit about me. As a former high school science teacher and chemist in a veterinarian toxicology laboratory, I firmly believe in exploring, doing, and learning from mistakes. Every student deserves to understand how to safely explore his or her world to learn more. That is my number one goal as a teacher – foster student curiosity in safe, healthy ways.

Born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, I felt a duty to positively impact my community. From the time I was in second grade until my junior year of college I was an active member of the Girl Scouts. My proudest moment was when I earned my Silver Award. Currently, both support the Leander Educational Excellence Foundation and Pflugerville Education Pfoundation.

After college I worked at the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in the PLUS program and at the Devereaux Foundation. After teaching in South Korea for 3 years, I moved to the Austin. Despite intending to return to New Jersey after getting my master’s degree, I fell in love with Austin – the weather, the people, the music, the barbeque.

The only downside is that my family is still on the east coast, so I don’t get to see them often. My 3 siblings have 7 children amongst them. When I visited last summer, I could hardly believe my eyes at how big they are. My eldest niece just graduated college and is starting her Master's program and my youngest nephew is in fourth grade!

I look forward to a fantastic school year!

Yours,

Gayle Chin