Reflection on Sue's life

It is year 2000 when the first 7 HK IE pioneers including Clio and myself first met Sue in KY, USA where she arranged us to visit many IE schools in several school districts! It is indeed one of the most fruitful trips that we had all through these years. We were not just being widened our horizon in understanding IE in actual practices in schools. We also had a personal encounter with what IE person is like and Sue is one of the very outstanding examples among the educators we met at that time. Sue kept contacts with us after the trip and encouraged us to come to the US for conferences and school visits whenever opportunities arise. The next meet up with the HK delegates was in the 2002 Quality Circle Conference and Sue is coordinating this with Dr Dallas Blankenship being the Chair. Sue successfully convinced the Board to include IE as one of the themes in the conference. It is an international conference in KY and we managed to have quite a large group of HK delegates including principals, teachers and Education Bureau officers to participate. This conference experience successfully knitted the HK group together and we form the core team to further pursue IE in a more systematic way there after!

Sue is always the one who we could seek advise and her wisdom in organisation and vision always goes beyond our thinking. She encouraged us to established an IE Centre in HK which could provide the infrastructure and logistic support to further development of IE !

It is with her encouragement and support, IAIE(HK) Centre was established and she came in person with a few US consultants such as Jim Mahoney,  Dallas Blankenship for the inauguration ceremony of the Centre.

She became the Executive Director of IAIE afterwards and her support to the development of IE in HK & Mainland China is most impressive. She saw the great interest and enthusiasm of IE in this part of the world but the needs for systematic support and training is crucial for sustained growth. After several in-depth exchanges , we decided to continue to enroll schools in the 1-2 years IE project which provide both training workshops and on-site support to schools that are interested to become an IE schools. Schools participated need to shoulder the expenses in the process. She herself had taken the role of coordinating the US consultants to come to HK to provide training and consultations on a regular basis.

This indeed has a lasting impact to the growth and development of IE in HK & Mainland China. The IE Project ideas serve as an effective means to enroll schools interested in IE. It is also a great opportunity for schools to excel through the adoption of IE in the schools.

Her innovation never stops, after several years of IE growth in both HK & the US, she suggested to us the possibilities of having students and teachers exchanges on both sides during school holidays and term breaks. It is because of this ideas that we have quite a no. of exchanges (one side or both sides) every year and it greatly benefited schools involved and is also a great way for expanding education on a global level.

Besides providing advise and support to the HK & China on IE development , she had come to HK in person many times to provide training and consultation. Her presence in the IE conference in HK several years ago also marked a significant support to the HK Centre IE development.

She had been stepping down from several leadership roles in recent years but still extended her care to the HK and China delegates during conference times. We always like to meet up with her when we are in conference and want to renew and update our friendship and ideas about IE!

On a personal note, she is my 'US Mom'. Her love and care towards people encountered with her is always very enlightening and warm! She is always ready to render her helping hand wherever possible. Indeed her love also extended to my family as my daughter, Joyce had once worked in Ohio and needs an accommodation. Sue 's home had been her home for quite a while and her love and care towards my daughter is just like a grandmother to her granddaughter! We are so grateful to her!!

Her patience, love and care for others, her wisdom and dedication for education will be greatly missed in her passing but she had indeed left a great legacy in IE in both personally and professionally for us to follow in her steps.

Rest In Peace till we meet again in Heaven!

Peter 

on Behalf of IAIE in HK & China