A Conversation with Linn Hong

This month we interviewed Lin Hong, the new Bend-La Pine Schools (BLS) Asian Family Liaison. We are so grateful to Lin for all the incredible work she is doing in our Central Oregon community!

How did you find your way to Bend? What has your experience been here?

I came to the U. S. as a visiting scholar at Penn State university in 2014. I taught Chinese classes over there. COCC opened up a full-time tenure track position in 2015 in order to reboot the Chinese program. I applied for the position and was lucky enough to be offered the job. I was impressed by COCC's vision to develop a diverse cultural community through offering non-western centralized language programs. My daughters and I appreciate the welcoming atmosphere in Bend. They received positive comments when people saw they could read or speak Chinese. Their teachers and classmates admired their Chinese language skills and said they were 'cool' kids. We did have a one-time experience facing a racism issue. In general, I feel people here are extremely friendly and open-minded.

Can you share some information about the work you are doing in our schools? What do you hope to see?

I am an associate professor at COCC. I teach Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture classes. I am a part-time Chinese teacher at Caldera High School. There are 40 students at Caldera HS taking Chinese 1 class with me. I used to teach college-credit Chinese classes at Summit HS. I have been a committee member of the BLS Equity Coalition since last year. I became the Asian Family Liaison at BLS this fall. I hope to see, BLS became more friendly to diverse cultures, including asian cultures, so students become confident and proud of their cultural roots; Asian students' achievements are recognized by the community; Asian family's demands are addressed and respected; more Asian cultural events happen here.