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opportunity,” Lee explained. “It ended up being a
rather extraordinary opportunity.”
In April of 2001 former President William J.
Clinton accepted South African President Nelson
Mandela’s invitation to attend the Civil Society
Conference in Cape Town. Clinton brought a
delegation from the U.S., which included representatives
from City Year. It was there that the
seeds for City Year in South Africa were sown.
The new program would bring together young
leaders from around the world who share a passion
for civic participation and service, with the
goal of strengthening democracy at home and
abroad. South Africa was the pilot country for
this program: it would be known as the Clinton
Democracy Fellowship and it would be built in
South Africa by City Year alumna Lee.
“I was amazed by the country’s commitment
to young people, not only in its creation of a
National Youth Service Policy, but in its designation
and celebration of an entire holiday for
young people—Youth Day,” Lee explained. “Early
on, I came to understand the role that young
people played in combating apartheid in South
Africa and the important role that they continue
to play in building democracy in their country
and around the world.”
Full Circle
After four years in South Africa Lee returned
to the United States to continue her work in
education, becoming the Vice President of
Communications and Development for the Ohio
Charter School Association (OCSA).
“My first project in the first education class
I ever took at Cornell was on charter schools,”
Lee recalls. “I studied things like school choice
and vouchers. At Harvard, I worked in a charter
school. It fit that I should continue my career
with a charter school association.”
She was soon recruited by a member of the OCSA board to join Concept
Schools, an education management and consulting group based in Chicago.
Concept Schools was building technology, math and science-based charter
schools throughout the Midwest. In her new role Lee worked with local
authorizing agencies to advance charter school applications. That included
working with the Chicago Public Schools and their Chief Executive Officer
at the time, Arne Duncan. Duncan is currently the United States Secretary
of Education.
“Charter schools represent change, and change is very political. The
authorization process is rigorous and rooted in law,” explained Lee. “In
South Africa, everything that came across my desk related to law and
policy. Working first for the Ohio Charter School Association and then for
Concept Schools I found myself once again engaged with law and policy.
It became increasingly clear that to effect change I needed a deeper knowledge
of the law.”
In her application to law school, Lee made it clear that her interest in law
school went beyond practicing law. Still, she spent a summer at a law firm
to see if there was a spark. The spark instead came through her weekend
work with The Law and Leadership Institute. The Institute was established
by the Ohio Supreme Court under Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. Its goal
is to target disadvantaged high school students and help them develop the
knowledge, skills and interest to pursue careers in law.
“We taught them basic English skills, basic writing skills, enrichment,”
Lee said. “We engaged them in oral debates and taught them how to argue.
It was very fulfilling and it is what I am most passionate about.”
This passion for empowering youth and impacting change on a
global level made Lee a natural fit for the position of Global Service and
Scholarship Department chair at Taft.
Lee formally joined the Taft School community in August 2010. She
teaches classes in service learning, social justice and human rights. Her impact
in the classroom has been swift and significant; it also brings the value
of her past experience into sharper focus.
“For my human rights research paper, I examined hate speech to determine
when it crosses the line,” explained Lauren Laifer ’11. “To support
my thesis, I needed to dissect countless Supreme Court cases, all of which
were far too convoluted to understand. Ms. Lee sat down with me and went
through each Supreme Court case, translating what seemed like a foreign
language into something comprehensible. She simply wanted me to learn,
and she was willing to spend as much time with me as necessary to make
sure that I did.”
Lee is also the dean of multicultural affairs and education and works closely
with the Davis International Scholars Program, which identifies and recruits
30 Taft Bulletin Winter 2012