Ms. Grace Lum, Mission’s technology support and Newcomer English teacher, has worked at Mission for 28 years. Known to students as Ms. Lum, she has some interesting hobbies outside of school, like archery or shooting pool with her family.
“I have 2 sons. The oldest likes to shoot archery, and the youngest one is a bodybuilder, but when it comes to shooting archery he is not interested in doing it.”
Ms. Lum was born and raised in San Francisco.
“I grew up in the basement of a house on 3rd Avenue in Richmond. I spent a lot of time tagging along with my mother, who worked as a seamstress in Chinatown and then later as a Chinese preschool teacher. Throughout my childhood, I helped my mom flip parts of clothing ‘outside in,’ so we could have enough money to make rent. “
Her mother grew up in Hong Kong from an impoverished background. “(She) was the youngest daughter of a cargo sailor… (she was) the only person in the public housing complex who ate butter, because my maternal grandfather would bring some back from his work overseas.”
Her father, on the other hand, grew up in Taishan, China. “My father left Taishan because of cocaine and opium use in his family, which led to tragedy and how my family’s economic decline and subsequent fall into debt.”
He met Ms. Lum’s mother in Hong Kong and later moved to San Francisco. Though Ms. Lum lived in San Francisco all her life, she has also visited China.
“Before I got married, I went back to my husband’s village, and when I got there, it was different compared to America. There are bathrooms, light bulbs, and electricity, but in China, there is only one light bulb around the house and only one house has electricity for these bathrooms. You have to use a bucket to get water out of it so it will be able to flush down. In America you get free speech, I could say anything and don’t care who is listening or what I’m saying. In China I have to be careful since I have American citizenship and that could lead to trouble.”
There were many moments like this in Ms. Lum’s life when she realized the life that she was used to wasn’t the reality for other people.
“When I was in sophomore year in high school, I realized there were a lot of places my family didn’t let me go, like I never went to the Bayview.”
She added, “ My perspective was very limited. Starting Junior year, I started to see a lot more and so I remember changing. I had different friends and that made me take school and work more seriously.”
She attended UC Berkeley and majored in English Literature and Minored in Education. Then, after getting her teaching credential, she made her way to Mission High School.
“Mission has changed a lot since I first came here. It was crazy. I remember watching a student get stabbed on Dolores and 18th Street. The classroom where I am now teaching was a wood shop. It was full of machines and tagging and spraying like in the movies.”
Now, she believes Mission High School has improved, and she enjoys working here.
“I like to study with students and cultivate students’ quality ability and imagination. I like working here because the students are worth the time. Their families need the education for their students to be good and go well in the future.”
