💕「愛台灣，我的選擇」系列第9發：Kim Kawamoto退役後來台開創新生活
「我來自夏威夷，我是一位退役的通信中校，我在軍中服務了21年半，這是我退役後的第一份工作。我來台灣之前，曾在西點軍校擔任體育副主任，也曾在西點軍校打了4年的籃球並擔任控球後衛，2016年時，不知道為什麼，但我被選入西點軍校體育名人堂。從軍隊退役後，我開始探索各種可能，我請人才仲介幫我找工作，她告訴我台北美國學校正在招募體育主任，當時我對台北美國學校很感興趣，也希望能把台北美國學校的中學校隊打造得更有競爭力，而且，每個人都跟我說台灣是個非常棒的地方。我來自夏威夷，早就習慣島嶼生活，所以感覺台灣也很適合我。我最重視的就是安全，有人說中國有很多詐騙，但大家都說台灣不一樣，台灣很安全，當我到了這裡後，真的覺得台灣很安全！我出生於越南，算是半個越南人，在成長的過程中，我爸媽常說：「你要用功讀書！要考到好學校！」我爸媽並不支持我打球，因為他們覺得打球沒辦法養家餬口，總是要我努力讀書。很多台灣學生也是在這樣的環境下長大，從小被教育念書比運動更重要，所以我很高興能夠來這裡，啟發學生，做學生的模範，對我來說，體育這條路為我的職涯和人生開啟了很多扇門，很高興能向學生展現這一點。很多人喜歡聘用有校隊經驗的人，因為這表示你能展現團隊精神。作為一名運動員，就是自我學習的歷程，因為失敗的機會遠比成功多的多，這是學習愈挫愈勇，屢敗屢戰的好機會，運動如此，人生也是如此。」
Kim Kawamoto是台北美國學校的體育主任，她在1992年榮獲著名的軍隊體育協會獎項，並兩度入選美國女性運動聯盟的全美明星隊。在任職於台北美國學校之前，Kawamoto曾於美國西點軍校擔任副體育主任。
為了慶祝五月的亞太裔傳統月，我們特別邀請Kim Kawamoto接受「愛台灣，我的選擇」系列的訪談。
💕Why I chose Taiwan #9 - Kim Kawamoto's new life in Taiwan
"I’m from Hawaii and I am a retired military lieutenant colonel signals officer. I served 21 and a half years in the military and this is my first job outside of my retirement. Prior to coming here, I served as an associate athletic director at West Point, where I had played four years of basketball. I was a point guard. In 2016, I don’t know how, but I was inducted into the West Point Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring from the military, I was exploring different options. I put my name in with a head-hunter and she told me about an athletic director position at Taipei American School. I was intrigued at the prospect of helping to build TAS’s middle school athletic program into a more competitive program. Plus, everybody that I talked to just said what a great place Taiwan was. Me coming from Hawaii, I am used to island-living, so it seemed like a good fit. My biggest thing is safety. You hear about the shenanigans going on right now in China, but everybody said Taiwan is different, Taiwan is safe, and coming here that’s been so true. I was actually born in Vietnam. I’m half Vietnamese and half all different things. Growing up, my parents said, “You’ve got to study hard! You’ve got to go to a good school!” They didn’t really support me in athletics. That was not something that was going to put food on the table. It was always, “Study, study, study!” So I am happy to be here as a mentor and a role model, since a lot of these kids grow up in that same environment where athletics aren’t as valued as academics. But for me, it’s been the key to opening so many doors professionally and personally. And I get to exemplify that here. I think a lot of people like to hire people that have played sports because it shows that you can be part of a team. Being an athlete is like its own classroom. It’s a really great way of teaching kids how to be resilient, because you lose more than you win a lot of the time. You deal with failure. Grit, resilience: these are all key aspects of sports. You can fail, and if you do fail, it’s how you come back from it. That’s what life is like too. "
Kim Kawamoto is the Athletic Director of Taipei American School. She won the prestigious Army Athletic Association Award in 1992 and lands two-time American Women's Sports Federation All-America selection. Kawamoto served at Army West Point as an associate athletic director before joining TAS.
Kim’s “Why I Chose Taiwan” interview is also in honor of May Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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