Aiyu (Iris) Zhang graduated in 2013 with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures, concentrating on the teaching of K- through12^th-grade Mandarin Chinese. She also received a teacher education minor in ELL (English language learners).

She is currently a 6^th-8^th grade Mandarin teacher at Maple School in Northbrook/Glenview School District 30. Students there have the opportunity to take Spanish, French or Mandarin during their middle school career.

The Mandarin program has been going strong since 2012, and she says she now teaches about one-quarter of Maple’s student population. The curriculum is equivalent to a high school level-one language class, so students go into Mandarin 2, or 2 Honors freshmen year.

After a couple of years as an educator, Iris became interested in learning more about the administration side of education and “how various stakeholders contribute and collaborate to foster student growth and learning.” As a result, she continued graduate school at UIUC, receiving her M.Ed. in Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership and earning her principal license.

Quote: “Growing up as an Asian American, I’ve always wanted to share my heritage with others, and majoring in Chinese at U of I helped me achieve my dream career of becoming a world language teacher.”