From sculpting ceramic bowls to frying up Kimchi, find out what the new Visual Arts teacher at Malvern can do.

Mrs. Katherine Lee is the new Visual Arts Teacher at Malvern Prep and loves to do more than just teach.

She is currently heading the middle school art class and the high school ceramics class for the Fall of 2018. Although she has been teaching the course for a short time, Lee already adores Malvern.

“It might sound cheesy but I really do love it here,” Lee said. “The whole culture is something I really appreciate and look up to. The traditions of the church, the beautiful campus to just roam around in. I was considering bringing my bike onto campus if that’s even possible. Everything is just really beautiful.”

Even though Lee has already grown fond of her new job, she wasn’t raised here. She’s originally from Philadelphia, where she was raised by her immigrant parents.

“I grew up in Northeast Philly. My parents immigrated there from South Korea in the late 80s and I really enjoyed that area of Philadelphia,” Lee said. “I went to Upper Dublin High School so I moved to the suburbs for about four years, and then I went immediately back to the city.”

Although Lee enjoys her time at Malvern Prep, she prefers the city over the suburbs.

“The suburbs kind of scared me, they’re so quiet compared to the city,” Lee said. “I moved back and Malvern is actually the first time I’ve been to this area outside of Philadelphia. I stick to the city if I can.”

One of the reasons Lee finds the city so enticing is the diversity, something she feels that suburbs lack.

“It’s such a diverse area especially since a lot of immigrants tend to settle there so there’s a lot of Filipino families, a lot of Latinx families, a lot of Korean families and we all kind of created a safe space for us,” Lee said. “I felt very uncomfortable in the suburbs because of the diversity factor was so much lesser.”

After high school, Lee attended Temple University to pursue an MBA in ceramics. Soon after, Lee attended Moore College of Art & Design to receive her masters. Lee originally didn’t want to become a teacher but rather just an artist.

“I started getting my teaching certification sort of like as compensation with my dad,” Lee said. “If you’re in a conservative Korean family and you want to go to art school, they’re like ‘no’ because it’s really dangerous career-wise.”

However, after receiving her license, Lee soon began to appreciate teaching.

“I got a call for a teacher interview that I didn’t even apply for, I guess it was from student teaching, they saw me, they just wanted to bring me in for an interview,” Lee said.

“I remember my first job offer I cried and not because I was happy but I was scared because I was like ‘do I really want to do this?’ That was five years ago and I love it now.”

Besides teaching, Lee enjoys the simpler things in life or as she puts it “general living.”

“I have an amazing family of animals at home that I love to hang out with,” Lee said. “I have two dogs, two cats, two goldfish, and a gecko and they’re all crazy because they’re all adopted.”

Lee also enjoys cooking traditional Korean dishes and leaving the American dishes to her husband.

“I started cooking ‘kal-guksu’ at home which directly translates to knife noodles because it’s homemade noodles that you cut with a knife,” Lee said. “I also enjoy anything stew or soup related, there’s a great soup that uses kimchi in it and that was my favorite dish growing up.”