PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE

The path to Adelaide Yoo applying for the middle and upper school principal post at Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield began with a jog, but she wasn’t running at the time.

CHA history teacher Dr. David Noell was exercising when he envisioned Yoo—then the English Department chair at CHA and a teacher at the academy since 2009—thriving in the administrative role.

“He approached me after his run one day and asked, ‘Have you ever thought of being a principal?’” recalls Yoo, who also runs regularly, logging 2.5 miles three times a week. “I hadn’t. It had never been in my sights. Teaching was my love. But I thought about it, journaled about it, and prayed about it.”

The Wheeling resident and mother of four then embarked on a tour of conversations— sans sneakers—with VIPs in her life, beginning with her husband and No. 1 supporter, Michael Yoo. Adelaide Yoo, 44, later talked about the position with CHA Lower School Principal Joan Okamoto before arranging a meeting with Christian Heritage Academy Head of School Joseph Torgerson.

“Joe and I had an important meeting,” says Yoo, whose children—Micah, Charity, Liberty, and Felicity—are CHA students. “He shared with me what he thinks my strengths are, as well as my weaknesses in a gracious way. He also let me know it would be a hard job but one that I could handle well.

“I decided to apply for the position and ended up doing so while I was vacationing in Palm Springs, California.”

The Board of Directors at Christian Heritage Academy, a private, independent Christian school for students in preschool through twelfth grade, announced the appointment of Yoo as the academy’s middle and upper school principal on May 2. Founded in 1984 with a commitment to partner with parents, CHA offers an exemplary education that incorporates biblical values and a Christian worldview throughout all areas of learning in an atmosphere designed to nurture each child’s individual gifts and spiritual development.

Christian Heritage Academy serves more than 440 students. In its most recent state rankings, niche.com rated CHA No. 1 among Christian high schools, No. 8 among college prep private high schools, and No. 9 among private K-12 schools.

The first leg of Yoo’s journey—her transition from colleague of teachers to boss of those same teachers, specifically—began on July 1.

She’s in it for the long run.

“I love this place and I’m grateful to be entrusted with an administrative leadership role,” says Yoo, who’s blessed with a sunny disposition and an infectious laugh. “Students can’t wait to enter our doors each morning. Walking our hallways has always excited me, because I have such respect for my colleagues. Our faculty members work hard and see our students as end products rooted in truth. I’ll certainly miss teaching, but the Lord opened another door for me in a gentle way.

“As a principal, I’ll serve as an advocate for our teachers while being an empathic and firm leader. To my students in the classroom, my favorite saying was, ‘I’m always for you, never against you.’ That won’t change in my tenure as principal to my teachers.”

Yoo attended Elk Grove High School, where she was active in sports, music, and debate, and worked several years as an energetic salesperson at the Banana Republic at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. She tutored freshmen during her lunch hour at the EGHS writing center and earned high praise from the center’s supervisor, who told her, “You were born to teach.”

But Yoo chose to study Management Information Systems at Purdue University, thinking such a degree would eventually allow her to do something special for her parents, Kuang Joon and Ae Ri Kim.

“I wanted to buy them a Lincoln Town Car,” Yoo says.

Yoo transferred to the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign after discovering business didn’t exactly invigorate her. Mom and Dad Kim (now missionaries in Russia) would get to enjoy their daughter’s happiness instead of a new vehicle. Yoo studied English and Secondary Education and earned a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Illinois.

Yoo taught and designed curricula at several Illinois schools, including downstate Rantoul High School, and later served as an adjunct faculty member at the College of Lake County in Grayslake. She also taught West Africans in the Republic of Senegal. In 2009, the year she married Glenbrook South High School graduate and University of Illinois alumnus Michael Yoo, she became a member of Christian Heritage Academy’s inaugural upper school faculty as a 10th and 11th grade English teacher.

CHA’s Living Curriculum Teachers understand that relationships are a key to good education and that students thrive when treated with dignity within an orderly and respectful environment, per CHA’s website (christianheritage.org).

“Church was a constant for me at a young age, and it still is for me as an adult and as an administrator here at Christian Heritage, a place of excellence where I’ve witnessed God’s awesome faithfulness and goodness,” says Yoo, whose family attended Korean Central United Methodist Church in Glenview. “My youth group friends mostly attended Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North high schools. I found true community at church, from Sunday school to mass to youth group gatherings.

“I remember going to church on Sunday mornings and often staying there all day.”

Scripture, particularly three verses in Matthew 11, will continue to comfort Yoo during her new career chapter at CHA.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” verse 28 states. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

“That’s a passage that has given me strength in all areas of my life,” Yoo says. “When I read it, I’m reminded that I’m not alone.”

Christian Heritage Academy is located at 315 Waukegan Road in Northfield. For more information, call 847-446-5252 or visit christianheritage.org.