5 minute read
SPOTLIGHT ON ALUMNI
Maggie Chang ’02
by Charlie Ramseyer
Class of 2002 graduate Maggie Chang spent ten years teaching art classes and encouraging students to pursue their artistic dreams before she took the leap to pursue her own. And leap she did! In 2016, Maggie left her full-time teaching position at LaGuardia Arts High School (the public school that inspired the film and TV show Fame) and moved across the country to pursue her childhood dream of writing and illustrating children’s books, an endeavor she had taught but until then, only ever fantasized about. Though this transition initially brought about its own set of doubts and fears, she received a great deal of encouragement from her Wichita Collegiate community.
LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
Before her big move, she was able to come back and spend some time in Kansas. While here, she attended the memorial for longtime WCS teacher Bill Colbert. She said, “It takes a special community to be able to grieve together after being apart for many years and then to leave the day somehow feeling uplifted about life. Perhaps it was my encouraging conversation with Mr. B. Perhaps it was getting the opportunity to tell him that I became a high school art teacher and thank him. But I’m certain I was reminded of how my WCS teachers believed in me, and I know that day really did help me take those next big life steps.”
Time spent in Gary Buettgenbach’s class was something Maggie reflected on often during the interview. While his room was her self-described “happy place,” when asked about how her time at WCS shaped her experiences since then, she said it truly came down to how her teachers believed in her. Maggie talked about how she grew up with a hardworking, single mom and her grandparents. When by the start of her sophomore year both grandparents passed away, it was her WCS teachers who helped give her the solid and consistent footing she needed to believe in herself.
“Whether I needed Mrs. Mykel to proofread my essay for correct grammar, or Mr. Farmer to break down differential equations for the umpteenth time, or Mr. B or Mrs. Crowley to stay late and lock up after finishing an art or research project--they were there for me.” She noted they were always willing to step outside of the 45 minutes of class and help with finishing an art project, research paper, or just talk about life’s questions, big and small.
Her next stop after WCS was the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Visual Studies. It was an interdisciplinary study of neuroscience, art history, and fine art, and allowed her to merge all of her interests in life and social sciences with art. After graduation, she spent a year doing national service through City Year AmeriCorps in New York City. The experience confirmed her passion for education, and she went on to Columbia University Teachers College for graduate school.
During her teaching career, she also co-founded two nonprofits. The first was the Orange Giraffe Project. It was created after the passing of her WCS classmate Glory Gensch, and for a decade, the organization worked with people living with cancer to design personalized jewelry--a safe and fun way to deal with complex physical changes while adorning the body, opening the heart, and celebrating the human spirit. Maggie’s second nonprofit, Rising Earth: Human Impact Education, is a collaborative effort that works with high school and college interns to address our planet’s most pressing issues. She works with a team of artists and writers to create graphic novels about real youth environmentalists and humanitarians. Maggie said, “This work really combines all my passions: working with young people, storytelling, art, science, activism, service, interdisciplinary learning, and intersectional issues.”
EMBRACING NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Shortly after moving to California, Maggie met her husband Alex. They were married in October of 2019, with her fellow ’02 classmate Amar Shah officiating the ceremony. On her 35th birthday, she saw her childhood dream realized when she landed a three-book deal with Simon and Schuster, enabling her to begin work on an early reader graphic novel series featuring a Taiwanese American character. Her book, Geraldine Pu and Her Lunchbox, Too! debuted this past June and is the first of its kind in many ways. Maggie commented on how the response has been truly wonderful.
“It’s thrilling to hear how much people, especially kids, adore the book. Parents and caregivers message me saying how the story has encouraged them to pack school lunches authentic to their culture. Educators are grateful to have it as a resource for teaching empathy. Asian American readers of all ages are feeling seen. And kids apparently are requesting the book at bedtime, night after night after night. As I learn to juggle the family-work balance, these messages keep me going!”
Despite the pandemic, big things kept happening in Maggie and Alex’s world. They bought a house just outside of Long Beach, California, got a puppy, and their baby girl was born in January of 2021. Maggie still serves as the art director for Rising Earth and is currently working on the next two books in her Geraldine Pu series. Becoming a published author and a mother in the same year was the realization of some of her biggest dreams, but Maggie doesn’t plan to stop there. If anything, her time at WCS taught her that she is capable of pursuing any and all dreams that she has. Maggie hopes that, as she grows Geraldine Pu’s character, she can encourage those same teachings to her readers.
Maggie and Alex with their daughter.
