Dr. Ho climbs his own path

Inside look into the career pathway and adventures of Dr. Ho

Photo by Banee Chadha

Anya Biswas, Features Editor

Walking into the math teacher lounge, one can expect a pile of homegrown persimmons and exciting stories from Chung Ho, a math teacher at Northview who has followed an unexpected career path. If anyone in the math hallway needs help or is stuck on a question, Ho is great at helping them through their problem. Ho has worked at Northview for six years and has become an important member of the math department team.

“He's a man of many talents. I feel like every single day we learn something new about him. He's also, in general, just extremely positive, uplifting, and goofy,” Andrea Koskosky, an AP Statistics teacher at Northview, said.

Outside of school, Ho enjoys hiking, traveling, and spending time with his family. Ho has two sons - one serving as part of the United States Coast Guard and the other graduating from the United States Naval Academy this spring. Two years ago, Ho’s family drove 50 days from Georgia to Northern Canada, the Arctic Circle, and Alaska. This summer, he will travel to Taiwan to visit his parents. He has already spent eight days hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he hopes to get the opportunity to hike the entire Appalachian Trail for six months.

“Dr. Ho has a new story every time you meet him, and it's somehow crazier than the last one you heard,” Blake Pinto, a calculus teacher at Northview, said. 

From Taiwan, Ho came to the United States to get his Master’s degree and later got his PhD in Ceramic Sciences. He started as a faculty associate for Arizona State University and then worked for Panasonic designing plasma TVs. Afterward, he was a principal engineer in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His last job in corporate America was as a process manager in Alpharetta. Throughout his complex career path, he moved seven times but then turned his focus to his priorities. To spend more time with his family, he wanted to take up teaching.

“So from that moment on, we could spend time [going] camping together, and I could see my kids [every day],” Ho said. “I really enjoyed that.”

Ho has been teaching for 21 years now, but it was not something he would have expected. His first teaching job at a high school was at Phoenix High School in Gwinnett County where he was able to make a difference in students' lives. Then, he worked at North Gwinnett High School for 15 years. At North Gwinnett, he was one of the only teachers not raised in the United States and at first struggled to fit in and gain respect. Ho felt he could be a good role model at Northview, especially with its high percentage of families from East Asian backgrounds.

“When I came to Northview High School, I saw a lot of students who were quite similar to me. I think it's important for them to see people at the stage or status that is similar to themselves,” Ho said. 

After initially teaching science and math, he decided to focus solely on math. Since then, he has taught a wide variety of math classes, and this year he teaches Advanced Algebra Honors and Precalculus. Miguel Sierra is a sophomore who took Ho’s Accelerated Algebra Geometry 2 class last year and is considering being Ho’s teaching assistant next year.

“He tends to call people out - people that tend to not really pay attention to class - and actually make them participate in class,” Sierra said. “Even though I was constantly called out myself, I felt like it helped me as a student and it brought me back into math.” 

Sierra feels that Ho prepared him well for AP Precalculus which he finds to be a challenging class. He keeps in touch by talking to Ho in the hallway and confides in Ho about recent tests or challenges he is facing.

“He was also super supportive. He helped a bunch of students that were not doing well in class,” Sierra said.

In addition to his students, Ho’s colleagues speak highly of his warm personality and welcoming manner. Many commend him for his ability to go with the flow by taking everything as it comes and his help for others - no matter the task. 

“He has this constant smile. He's always excited to see everyone. And it's just this positive energy around him. It's just so constant, and it definitely makes my day better,” Pinto said.