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Celebrating 25 Years Teaching at KIS
June 2026
Wade and Hannah Hopkin began teaching at KIS fall 2001. KIS was newly founded as one of the first secular international schools in Seoul. School leadership envisioned the well-rounded education we offer today, with the opportunity for KIS graduates to matriculate to top universities around the world. But the year Wade and Hannah arrived there were no graduates yet. The school was just preparing to expand into high school classes.
There were fewer than 30 teachers on staff. The small staff was familiar to Wade and Hannah who arrived from teaching in rural Alaska. While in Alaska they earned masters in the art of teaching and practiced an interdisciplinary model of grade level teaching which was also in place at KIS. During those early years at KIS everyone had to work together – difficult but rewarding collaboration was essential to student and school growth.
Hannah remembers arriving at their first apartment a week before the school year started. KIS gave them a stack of Korean won, told them where to find the bus to report for the first day. Neither remembers worrying they made a mistake moving to a foreign country. Instead they recall venturing out in the summer monsoon, a little relieved to spot a McDonalds. And that is such a familiar story to anyone who has traveled or lived outside their country. Even when we’re excited for the adventure, we welcome a reminder of our faraway home.
When KIS announced the Pangyo campus, all staff joined the groundbreaking ceremony. There was nothing but a hill and a few distant buildings. But KIS chose the Pangyo location with the belief that this region of growth would need a school like KIS to serve students from Seoul, Pangyo, and Suwon. During this same time, KIS began building its AP program in the high school. Wade was part of that. He has taught AP biology for over twenty years.
Wade appreciates his professional growth at KIS. Teaching the AP program was intimidating at first but he had the support to refine his teaching craft and develop the course into the standard it is today. KIS students consistently earn top AP biology scores in the region. Both Wade and Hannah want their classrooms to feel alive, literally. The Hopkins keep plants and fish tanks in their rooms. They want students to observe and wonder about the natural world.
When their daughter Ella was born, Wade and Hannah decided to stay in Korea. By then they were quite settled. Welcoming a child is a big life change and neither could imagine becoming parents anywhere else. As a new father, Wade wanted an activity he could share with his daughter. When he was a kid he was fascinated by stars and had a telescope before moving to Korea – he decided to learn the Korean night sky with Ella at his side. This renewed interest also got him thinking about teaching astronomy, now one of his courses.
Hannah meanwhile has found professional joy working with another middle school science teacher, Sharon Surrette. The two of them have completed multiple professional development courses together and Hannah appreciates the daily camaraderie of teaching next door to a friend. This is also something familiar to international teachers, the colleague who becomes a dear friend.
When Wade and Hannah met at University of North Carolina-Wilmington they could not know that KIS would one day recognize their twenty-five years at the school. What they knew then was that the world was too big to stay in one place. They studied marine biology, scuba dived, decided to teach. Hannah had the idea for Alaska. And because Wade lived in Pakistan during his high school years, graduating from the school where his parents taught, he was open to even more.
Soon enough Wade and Hannah decided to move overseas. And then they stayed in one place. This is where their story diverges from that of most international teachers. But this is also where Wade and Hannah achieve something unique, a rooted home far away from home. KIS celebrates their many years teaching in the middle and high schools and wishes their family the best in the years to come.
