At Her Core, Dr. Karalyn Tom Is Still The Same…Only Now She’s Creating Proactive School Systems In Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 By: Daniel McArdle-Jaimes

Nothing can describe the feeling of reconnecting with someone over the phone that you haven’t heard from or spoken to in more than a decade. Upon saying our first hellos, it is always amazing to me to be received with such enthusiasm, excitement and support from the person on the other end of the phone line.  

“This must be so fun for you,” giggled Karalyn Tom. “Are you planning to interview all of us?” This question actually caught me off guard. It was a question I thought about, but didn’t have an answer for. It was my hope that others would want to join in because this connection journey has been rewarding and fun. And so I replied, “Absolutely!!! I did this to myself, and can’t stop now.”

It has been 10+ years since I last spoke to Karalyn Tom. The now Dr. Karalyn Tom lives in Milwaukee Wisconsin and is currently engaged to Aaron Ginster an emergency room doctor. Her fiancé is from Wisconsin, and they are planning to be married in Hawaii later this summer.

While she is all grown up now, at her core, Kara hasn’t changed at all. She has the same laugh, and we laughed on the phone for minutes on end as she recalled her many fond high school memories with me. We also politely gushed at one another’s accomplishments as we caught up personally and what it meant to settle down in our own respective American suburb.

On our call, Kara was nothing but sweet and complimentary to the alumni relations work that has already been completed. As a doctor in school psychology (very different from child psychology), Kara is appreciative of my efforts and is understanding of the value alumni relations. In her words, 

“We hope the kids (we had) made a difference. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing for sure.”

Author’s note: Kara told me that I was really good at capturing the voices of each person’s interview (like Kristen Unten’s and Grant Shibuya’s). While I strive for that, I feel a considerable amount of pressure to execute this well for Kara, as I had always admired her joyful, quirky, and her uniquely cute personality. While “cute” doesn’t do her justice, you all know what I’m talking about…

The following captures our conversation:

1.      Catch Us Up. What have you been up to for the last 15 years?

After graduation, I went to Santa Clara University (SCU) and began their engineering program.

Engineering!? You are kidding me! I don’t see you and engineering going together at all!

I know! I know! It was one of those things that was sort of influenced by my parents. At the time there was a show on TV that I would watch with my family. It featured MIT students competing to build robots. I thought the robots and the competition was so cool, and my Dad suggested that I consider majoring in engineering because I enjoyed math.  

So I followed through and was accepted into the SCU engineering school. On Day 1, I realized that engineering wasn’t for me and I quickly shifted majors. I tried business and marketing, but later realized that I loved working with kids and knew that is what I wanted to do.

Like Mari Yokoi, I really valued my close relationship with Mr. Wheeler. I cherished him as a dean and valued him for helping me work out all of my personal teenage drama. And so, I sought out a career path to help me be in a position where I could be that influential mentor for a kid.

After graduating college, my friends and I were looking at places to move to. We picked San Diego because it was sunny and it seemed fun. We lived there for a year and took that time to decide what we were going to do.

I spoke to my friend about school psychology, and that led me to begin applying to grad schools. I decided to go to the University of Oregon because they had a really awesome education program. I grew to love and understand their approach to push and change school systems. The program’s core looks to change schools by creating preventive models academically, social-emotionally and behaviorally.

Living in Eugene, Oregon was my favorite places to live so far. I became “crunchy” and loved every moment it. Paul Griffing used to tease me for becoming a “crunchy” hippy. In Oregon, I remember becoming fanatical about eating organic food, enjoying the craftsmanship of beer and wine, while having the ability to bike everywhere. It was a really good time in my life.

After finishing up in Oregon, I was matched to a program in Chicago, Illinois and I loved it—especially living in such a vibrant city. I worked at a school for four years undertaking an internship and working with pre-K to 2nd grade students. My work consisted of doing social and emotional work, observing how the school system works, and evaluating how the school system can be refined to prevent situations (most school systems are set up to be reactive systems). I loved working directly with the kids, seeing them in their environment and conducting tests to evaluate my proactive models/systems. It was a great experience.

Then I met a boy in Chicago and we got engaged last year. We decided that we were over “city living” and made the move to Wisconsin where he is from. Over the last year, my new job includes working with kindergarteners to 8th graders, and looking at their social, emotional, behavioral and academic environments. I admit, it has been a learning curve in working with older students, but this experience has really made me grown more appreciative to my Mid-Pacific middle school teachers—you all have so much patience!

2.      You have traveled all over the U.S., how has your Mid-Pacific foundation helped you in life?

At Mid-Pacific, you could do whatever you wanted. My sister went to Punahou, and you had to play sports for a long time in order to make the various sports teams. At Mid-Pacific, there were so many activities that were available to us. It made me flexible, and it was a supportive enough environment where I wasn’t afraid to NOT try something. And so, I put myself out there and tried things out.

Also, at Mid-Pacific, the culture (coupled with growing up in Hawaii) was positive and friendly. Because of the school’s environment, I was brought up with valor, flexibility and positivity. This environment fostered me and empowered me to take me to places that I never knew were possible or existed.

3.      What is your favorite Mid-Pacific memory?

The dance concerts! There was so much time, energy and passion that went into those rehearsals and productions.

Another fond memory was when I was trying out for JV volleyball. It was funny because none of us knew how to play volleyball, but we were determined to learn and to do it together. A group of us decided to play in summer league to acquire some experience first. We got killed! We probably lost every game 0-15 in 10 minutes. It was a joke. I remember those summer volleyball games with Jacie Ann Oda, Mariko (Daniels) Wakuya, Katrina (Fallas) Go, Kristen (Tamashiro) Smallman, and Jen (Fukuda) Johnson. Dezarae (Ramos) Miyahara was the only one on the team who knew who to play. She was definitely the best. Rosella Leonhardt-Wicker joined up later, but I don’t remember if she played in the summer league.

This was one of my most favorite memories, because it goes back to what I was saying about how there was so many opportunities for us in high school. This is an example of how it built my confidence and courage. I put myself out there, and yet felt supported by my friends, coaches and teammates.

4.      What does alumni relations mean to you?

Now that I work in a school and with kids, I realize how important it is to go back to your roots. When you work in education, you hope the kids make a difference.

For me, I think it is good to go back and talk to your teachers. It reinforces how much you have grown, and you realize how grateful you are to come from such a wonderful foundation. It’s also a good way to reconnect with the people who have helped you along the way.

And now hearing and seeing what you are doing, Daniel…I’m recognizing and reminded how important, powerful, impressive and valuable my Mid-Pacific network is!  

5.      Who were your favorite teachers?

Mr. Wheeler. He was our dean for awhile, beginning in the 7^th grade. He was also our student government advisor, and oversaw student body government. He was a mentor for me, and instrumental in guiding my decisions, especially when I was in sticky situations. Mari Yokoi was right. He was never judgmental, and didn’t give you the brush off for having to listen to your 8th grade social drama. These days as a working school psychologist, I try to emulate him and his principles when working with my kids. Their emotions are real, and my emotions were just as real in the 8^th grade when talking to Mr. Wheeler. I’ll never forget that and apply that when listening to my kids.  

I also want to credit Mr. Maley, Ms. Yamada and Ms. Jay. Dance was a huge part of my life at Mid-Pacific. They were a great team and trained us really well. I know that we weren’t an easy bunch to handle, because we were loud and all over the place. Mr. Maley in particular was tough, but he was a great teacher.

I recall when the dance classes had to shift schedules, so that we could have 90 minutes of ballet. Those in that class had to alter our lunch schedules to eat lunch later. That was a tough transition. In addition, during dance concerts and rehearsals, we had really late evenings that took time away from homework. As a teenager, it was a lot of effort to juggle those kinds of things. Fortunately, it helped me in college. In college, there was no one on your back to ensure you were on track. And now, in my 30s, I somehow find a way to juggle so many things. Thankfully, that self-discipline was learned in dance, while balancing the academics. After all, if you wanted to do dance, the academics had to be in place.

6.      What was your favorite subject in school?

Academically I really liked math. At the time, Mid-Pacific had so many courses in math. I liked all of my math courses. It was something that was more natural to me than other subjects. I use math daily, and it continues to serve me well, as I work with a lot with data and analyze it.

7.      Who do you most admire and why?

It is hard to not be proud of the people you are closest with, because you have been a part of the ups and downs of their respective journeys. And so, I’d say I most admire Kristen (Tamashiro) Smallman, Kim (Hee) Aina, Rosella Leonhardt-Wicker and Jen (Fukada) Johnson. I’ve been part of every aspect in their lives ranging from career planning to navigating them through tough times. Some of them are parents now, and that is so awesome to watch. We get together all the time. I am really proud of them and admire them for achieving their dreams.

8.      If you were to go to the reunion, who would you like to see most?

Paul Griffing. I haven’t seen Paul in a long time. I think I saw him once before he moved to the mainland. I think that was six years ago, and I hope that he will come to the reunion.

9.      Now that you are going to be a mentor for the class of 2017, what would you say to your teenage self?

Invest in Apple stock!! Just kidding...

The first day that I met with my SCU college advisor (he was a philosophy professor), he told me to simply “do what I love.” Easy enough advice, but it can be difficult to follow when you get strong messages from parents, friends, and social media on who you should be and what you should 

become. It’s a message that’s always stuck with me.

And of course, always strive to be kind to others and yourself.