For almost a quarter of a century, Grace Yun has been a constant at Fieldston, showing commitment and adaptability to the school. She joined Fieldston in 2001 as a science teacher and has seen the school’s transformation as it grew in scale, and went through multiple changes in its leadership and curriculum. In her current role as the Upper School Assistant Principal of Academic Life – a position she first took in 2015 to 2018 and again this year – Yun uses her institutional knowledge and relationships with students and faculty to continuously evolve and improve the students’ experience at Fieldston.
Yun’s professional journey at Fieldston has touched multiple aspects of the school. Making her an asset to Dr. Stacey Bobo, who joined Fieldston as the Principal of the Upper School less than two years ago in the fall of 2022. She views Yun as a ”great partner, thoughtful, and kind…..[who] can give me the history of the school”.
In her role as the Upper School Assistant Principal of Academic Life, she plans school-wide events, oversees the “Academic Integrity Board, supports the Department Chairs and Faculty around curriculum initiatives,” plans the “Assessment Practices”, and “prepares for the following academic year, which includes the course studies and course request process.”
Yun’s knowledge of the upper school goes deep, making her trusted by both faculty and students. Her past roles include teaching upper school and 8th-grade science, putting her in a unique position to help bridge the transition from middle school to upper school, making it more seamless for students. Yun’s exceptional organizational skills and her ability to “juggle multiple balls at one time,” as Dr. Bobo attests, explains how she so seamlessly takes on multiple responsibilities. In fact, Yun may be the only person who can navigate our school’s complex scheduling system after spending 22 years as a scheduler, helping to evaluate and coordinate course offerings and the different variations of schedules for all of the students.
When Yun reflects on her time at Fieldston, she points to the size of the upper school as the biggest source of change. Unlike some of the other independent schools in New York, Fieldston has made the decision over the years to expand the number of students it admits: “When I first came, each grade was about 120 kids, under 500 students (in the upper school) and now we’re over 600 students…(it) …definitely makes a big difference in terms of the feel of the school.” While it allows for more students to be a part of the community, people don’t know each other as well and at times there is less consistency when it comes to teaching methods and grading, a challenge Yun is committed to help find ways to address. In fact, one of the goals Dr. Bobo and Yun have set for themselves is working with faculty to help create a more cohesive and unifying experience for students. To maintain the feel of a smaller and tighter experience, faculty members within departments have been having ongoing conversations about more unified assessment and grading practices.
Despite the school changing in many ways, Yun’s passion continues to be the students, “ultimately what I love about being at Fieldston is connecting with the students. Now, there’s just a lot more to connect with, but that has always been my goal.” Yun’s commitment to creating connections and memories with her students makes her a beloved and trusted teacher, admin, and advisor. When Yun took over Kenny Graves, (the former Assistant Principal) advisory at the beginning of this year, she instantly made connections with the group using her sense of humor to put the students at ease during the difficult transition. Jahdiel Mattis, a Form IV student in Yun’s advisory, echoes how all of the members in the advisory feel: “Ms. Yun has been an amazing advisor, she is constantly checking in with us, seeing how we are doing, and in the short amount of time she has been our advisor she has gotten to know us so well!.”
In fact, the connectivity with students is what Yun misses the most in her current role and is why she made the decision to go back to her teaching role in the 2024/2025 academic year despite the sense of “partnership and philosophical alignment” Dr. Bobo and her share. She explains that an unexpected challenge she is facing in taking on the role of the Upper School Assistant Principal of Academic Life is “that it’s the first year in my 24 years of teaching here that I have not been in a classroom environment.” She really loves “working and interacting with students,” and misses that element of the job.
As Fieldston continues to grow and adapt, Yun’s educational philosophy and commitment to direct engagement with students and enhancing our collective and individual experiences inspire the entire school community. She embodies the spirit that defines the school itself. Students can’t wait to have Ms. Yun back in the classroom!
