Carter Academy Music Teacher Eun Sung Kim Selected for Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellowship

Disponible en:

The 2026-27 fellowship will connect Kim with international educators as she explores how culture, creativity, and music can broaden students’ perspectives.

Music can tell a story, preserve a cultural tradition, and bring people together across differences. Carter Academy strings teacher Eun Sung Kim wants her students to discover all three — and a prestigious international fellowship will help her bring those possibilities into the classroom.

Kim has been selected as a 2026-27 Fulbright Teacher through the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program, an opportunity to collaborate with international educators, explore global approaches to teaching, and develop new ways to help students understand the world around them.

“Being named a Fulbright Teacher is an incredible honor,” Kim said. “It reinforces my commitment to lifelong learning and inspires me to bring the world into my classroom. I look forward to learning from educators around the world and sharing those experiences with our school community.”

The fellowship will include coursework focused on global competence and citizen diplomacy, a Global Education Symposium in Washington, D.C., in February, and a multi-week international field experience in the spring or summer. Kim’s host country is expected to be announced in December.

During the international experience, she will collaborate with educators in her host country and learn firsthand about their educational systems and cultural traditions. She will also develop a global education guide as her capstone project and share what she learns with the Carter Academy community.

Finding the Stories Behind the Music

Carter Academy students already perform music from around the world. Through the Fulbright fellowship, Kim hopes to deepen their understanding of the cultures, histories, and traditions behind the notes they play.

“I want to experience how music serves as a universal language for community building, storytelling, and cultural exchange,” Kim said. “Understanding the cultural context behind the music will help me enrich our curriculum and give students a deeper appreciation for the traditions they perform.”

Kim is particularly interested in learning how educators incorporate non-Western musical traditions and local storytelling into school music programs. She hopes to observe how schools preserve cultural identity while encouraging students to explore their creativity through music.

Those lessons could extend beyond the orchestra room.

Kim wants students to recognize how music, dance, theater, and visual arts can communicate ideas and connect people across cultures. By sharing what she learns, she hopes to help students see their own creativity as part of a much larger conversation.

“I want our students to understand that their artistic voices matter on a global stage,” she said. “Whenever they perform or create, they are participating in a worldwide conversation.”

Bringing a Global Perspective Home

For Kim, the fellowship also builds on her own journey as an international educator and the sense of belonging she has found in Aldine ISD.

Her story was featured on AldineISD.org in 2025 in Finding Harmony in Aldine: An International Teacher’s 20-Year Journey of Growth and Belonging. The Fulbright opportunity represents another step in a career shaped by learning, cultural exchange, and a commitment to students.

“Representing Aldine abroad allows me to learn how other cultures foster connection through education,” Kim said. “I look forward to bringing those insights home and inspiring our students to embrace their own backgrounds with pride, confidence and empathy.”

Kim is among approximately 2,500 U.S. citizens participating in the Fulbright Program during the 2026-27 academic year. Established in 1946, the program promotes international educational and cultural exchange. In 2026, it marks its 80th anniversary.

As Kim prepares for the next stage of her professional journey, she remains focused on what the experience can mean for her students.

She hopes they will approach unfamiliar perspectives with curiosity, empathy, and respect — and recognize that the arts offer a powerful way to understand people whose experiences may differ from their own.

Through music and other creative disciplines, Kim wants Carter Academy to be a doorway to global discovery, helping students see not only how art connects the world, but also how they can help shape it.

Learn more about the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program.