Languages and Legacies: FHN GameChang3rs and Chinese Immersion

Families from the Northern attendance area of Forest Hills Public Schools district may recognize both Chinese Immersion and GameChang3rs…Building Legacies, two great programs that impact the lives of hundreds of students each year. 

Chinese Immersion is a K-12 language immersion program currently in its 15th year at FHPS. Students in the program are taught Mandarin Chinese by native speakers half of each school day in grades K-6 and one hour a day starting in 7th grade. When Immersion students enter high school, they test into college-level classes in Chinese as a joint partnership between FHPS and Western Michigan University (WMU). These high school classes are taught by WMU professors who are also native Chinese speakers. The Class of 2023 will be the third cohort of graduates to finish the 13-year program and will graduate not only with a high school diploma but also with 28 college credits from WMU – equivalent to a Chinese language minor.

GameChang3rs…Building Legacies is a special program from The Michael Sadler Foundation and is taught in Northern elementary schools: Collins, Meadow Brook, Northern Trails, and Ada Vista Spanish Immersion schools (where every lesson is taught in Spanish by Ambassadors who were once students there). 

GameChang3rs was designed to equip every 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th-grade student in Northern schools with tools to help them develop strong character, make good choices, and become socially and emotionally engaged to build impactful legacies. Outstanding FHN Juniors and Seniors are coached on how to mentor the younger students during the eight-month program which runs throughout the school year. 

With help from FHPS teachers who had Mike Sadler* as a student, GameChang3rs was created to help young students learn how to build meaningful legacies.  Students learn that everything they say and do today is creating their legacies, as a result, kids are more mindful of their actions and are kinder to others.  With Mike’s legacy as inspiration, GameChang3rs emphasizes the six key pillars on which Mike built his legacy:  Education, Goals, Compassion, Integrity, Friends, and Humor. Each interactive lesson fulfills the State of Michigan Department of Education standards and social and emotional learning benchmarks. 

This year, the Chinese Immersion Program and GameChang3rs overlapped in the most unique way with help from FHN Seniors, Libby Kurt and Ian Joo.

Libby, daughter of Jon and Beth Kurt, has spent the last 13 years in the FHPS Chinese Immersion program. Last year, she joined GameChang3rs as a Junior Ambassador mentoring Meadow Brook Elementary 2nd graders. She returned to Meadow Brook again this year as a Senior Ambassador, making an important observation that would change the lives of her friend Ian and two English language learning (ELL) students who are new to America and FHPS.

In an email to Director Karen Sadler last October, just days after the first GameChang3rs presentation at Meadow Brook, Libby wrote about two students, one in each of her two Meadow Brook 2nd grade classrooms:

“I would like to talk to you about some of the kids in my 2nd-grade groups at Meadow Brook.

In my first group, there is a student who only speaks Korean. He was uninterested for most of the lesson because he didn’t understand what we were saying. I have a classmate, Ian Joo, who is fluent in Korean. Ian possesses all of the qualities a GameChang3rs ambassador would need, and I think it would be really special for the student to meet Ian. I’ve talked to Ian and he said he would be willing to meet with the student and help translate. I understand that there are some hurdles that you would have to get through, but if GameChang3rs and Meadow Brook would allow it, I think it would be a very special connection for the 2nd-grade student. If that is not an option, I think it would be helpful to have activities that he could participate in as well, whether that is translating worksheets into Korean or finding activities that don’t involve a lot of words.

In my Chinese Immersion 2nd grade class, I have a student who only speaks Chinese. Last lesson, I was able to ask her some simple questions, but I wasn’t able to get the main points of the lesson across. It would be really helpful if I could get the lesson plans in advance so I can take time to learn the necessary vocabulary and translate the questions ahead of time.

I want to make sure that these students get to have the same GameChang3rs experience as all of their other classmates, and I think making these adjustments would be a big step towards that. Please let me know your thoughts on these ideas.”

Before sending the email that would set the chain of events in motion, Libby spoke with fellow Senior Ian Joo. Ian, son of Sung-Hwan Joo and Heeyeon Cho, is not in the Chinese Immersion program but was aware of the GameChang3rs program. Ian knew that GameChang3rs took a lot of time and work to be involved in, but agreed to join the program because he wanted to work with and help a little boy who was struggling. 

Karen Sadler, the founder of GameChang3rs, was pleased to see the thoughtfulness of her Senior Ambassador and responded by reaching out to the principals of both Meadow Brook and FHN, as well as the teachers of these two ELL students. All involved liked Libby’s ideas and appreciated her focus on meeting the needs of non-traditional students. Mrs. Sadler responded to Libby’s email by writing in part, “I love your desire to help the kids who don’t speak English. It shows that you not only teach compassion, you practice it! YOU really are a GameChang3r!”

Together, the GameChang3rs team worked to familiarize and train Ian on the program. Libby, with some help from her WMU Chinese professor, translated the GameChang3rs lesson plans as well as the books each lesson is based on, into Chinese. Meanwhile, Ian joined Libby’s group as an Ambassador and verbally translated for the little boy who could understand basic English but needed to hear some of the lessons in his native language to fully understand and participate with his peers. When the group’s second class met, Ian took over Libby’s small group of students to discuss the GameChang3rs lesson while Libby translated for the little girl who didn’t understand English.

Both Libby and Ian assisted these ELL students in each GameChang3rs lesson for the following seven months of classroom presentations. Meadow Brook Principal Dawn Heerema is in her first year in the position and in the FHPS district. She had been unfamiliar with the GameChang3rs program but commented “This is a great program. It’s wonderful to have high school mentors who are so responsive and committed. It was particularly fun to see some of our older immersion students putting their leadership and language skills together to help young learners.” Yanbo Chen, 2nd grade Chinese Immersion teacher, had nothing but praise for Libby, saying she “was so helpful to this student who just joined our class and barely knows any English. I could see both of them were so confident and connected by the Chinese language. It’s truly amazing to see the great work and connections happening in our program and community!”

In addition to her role as an Ambassador for GameChang3rs, Libby is in the STEM program at FHN, participates in Newspaper Club, Chinese Club, and National Honor Society. Libby was the finalist in the CHI-PAC Spirit of Chinese Scholarship Competition and is a goalie for the FHNE Lacrosse team. She plans to study Computer Science and Chinese at Michigan State University. Libby’s sister, Reagan, is a sophomore in the Chinese Immersion program.

Ian serves as the treasurer of the FHN National Honor Society, a leader of the FHN Asian Student Association, a section leader of the FHN drumline and is on the rowing team. His sister, Julia, is a Junior in the Chinese Immersion program. Ian has been accepted at the University of Michigan and plans to study psychology. Of his role in GameChang3rs this year, he said, “As someone who also struggled to socialize in elementary school due to language issues, I felt I was the perfect person for this role.” 

As a Coordinator for the 2nd grade for GameChang3rs, my job is to work alongside the Ambassadors and help train them in their presentation skills. While every GameChang3r Ambassador makes a difference in the lives of the students they mentor, it is my honor to recognize Libby as she went above and beyond her call of duty.  She not only recognized a need for two students in the program, she took the initiative to present a solution for it, kept everyone informed in the process, and served as the catalyst for Ian to become a GameChang3rs Ambassador to assist a little boy who needed extra attention to understand the lessons. It is remarkable to see Libby and Ian’s legacies in action. Their leadership played a significant role and created positive real-life solutions for these young learners. Thank you, Libby and Ian, best wishes for your continued success!

*Mike graduated summa cum laude from FHN in 2010 and remains the only four-time Academic All-American in MSU history. To learn more, please visit https://www.michaelsadlerfoundation.org/gamechang3rs