A Fond Farewell, Tribute

Mr.Shaw, Meadow Brook Principal, 2010-2022

May 25, 2022

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Qianxi Jiang. I have been a Chinese teacher at MB for 11 years. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share today.

Since I heard the news of Mr. Shaw’s retirement, there have been a lot of emotions within me. It hasn’t been real to me that he is leaving yet, since I still go to him regularly for advice. He is still deeply involved in all the things we do at school. Tim is working hard on finishing this year strong and getting us ready for next year. He is doing as much as he can so that we can have a smooth transition when he leaves. I know that he will work hard till the last day of his principal job at MB. Today, I would like to put aside all of the busy working things and spend some time to thank him for what he has done for our school, especially our Chinese  Immersion program. His investment and commitment to our program have made it what it is today.

Tim cares about his staff.

Tim cares about his staff. He values his teachers and he believes we are important. I know that I can always trust him as my leader.

It’s really rare for a Chinese immersion program to have stable teachers. Among all the immersion schools that I know, we have the most stable Chinese staff here at Forest Hills. All of us have worked for 7 years or more under his leadership. He worked hard to get visas and green cards for us so that we can focus on teaching and not worry about losing our jobs. Tim has the most diverse staff in our district, teachers for three different programs, and a group of English language learners as teachers. Imagine you are a leader and don’t always understand what your staff is talking about, plus there are huge cultural differences! He is always kind and patient with us. He makes an extra effort to understand us and he listens attentively on what we say. He respects different perspectives and embraces cultural differences with a willing heart.

Tim does not just see us as his employees, but he also values us as members of our own families. He always says that your family is important and is very understanding during the times we need to put our family first. He models his attitude by being a wonderful father to his kids and sharing with us their life updates. For example, he showed us pictures of him attending his daughter’s wedding in Africa, which was much better than any training we had about global competence. 

Tim values partnerships and seeks any help he can get for his teachers and students. He diligently worked on building partnerships with the Asia Society, the  Confucius Institute, Western Michigan University, Grand Rapids Chinese language school, and partner schools in China. We were able to get Chinese teacher volunteers and student teachers for 8 years through these partnerships before the pandemic, which was huge for our program and students. We are the only program that I know, which gives students an opportunity to earn college credits after finishing our program. At the beginning of his time here, he attended our training and conferences. He even went to China to visit partner schools and interviewed teacher volunteers during one summer. Tim did so much to make these teacher volunteers feel welcomed and valued. It involves a lot of communication with CHI-PAC and the organizations that sent them. He had to do many problem-solving to make this happen. He looked for housing, transportation, rides for them to go shopping. He even had to borrow a lawn mower and mowed their lawn once. Because their lawn mower broke and he only has a riding mower.  

Tim really cares for his students and their families.

We appreciate your hard work Mr. Shaw.

Among all the schools at FH, he has the most diverse students. As a staff member, I have learned so much just from watching him interact with different families and students. He cares about all of them, and fights hard to meet their needs. 

 I am blessed to have worked with you for the past 11 years. You will be greatly missed.