About Us

Joan Rhee is a second-year Master's Degree student in Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, studying International Educational Development. 

 As a Taiwanese-American, born and raised in NYC, she loves diversity and learning from the cultures around her throughout the boroughs of NYC. 

After graduating college, she spent a year teaching math to middle schoolers in a charter school in Harlem and loved it! However, with only half a year of experience living in Harlem, she is aware that her limited time and exposure to Harlem may affect her "outsider" perspective on the gentrification that has been happening in Harlem. 

Sujung Hwang is a 2nd year Master's student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

She is an international student from South Korea, who studied previously in Memphis, Tenneesse, where she was exposed to issues concerning racial divide and gentrification for the first time. 

As someone who has limited knowledge on the lived experiences of the Harlemites while also part of the Columbia University community, she hopes to learn more about the social issues of gentrification and displacement occurring to local residents of NYC.

Zhe Hanzhang is a graduate student majoring in Anthropology and Education at Columbia University Normal School.

He is an international student from Beijing, China. He once volunteered for refugee children in Albany, where he was deeply moved and decided to make efforts for educational equity.

After arriving at Columbia University, he discovered that there were many underservice phenomena in the Harlemites area, so he hoped to have a better understanding of the region's history, current situation, and future.

Krystina Heidelberg is an Ed.M. student in the Anthropology and Education and a Master of Arts graduate from the ICE'd program.

She has taught English in Guangzhou, China and has studied Bahasa Indonesian in Indonesia.  Her passion lies in multilingualism and language acquisition along with culture incompetence. 

Having moved to Harlem for the sole reason of pursing a graduate degree at Teachers College Columbia University the thought of gentrification and displacement often crosses my mind. I consider the fight that the Harlem community has faced and continually faces (with its historical buildings and  'soul'), along with the displacement that continues to occur as time goes by and the new communities that emerges in its wake.