Meet Our Team
Co-Site Directors
We welcomed Kelly Tom and Eric Ding (preferred name is Ding) as Co-Site Directors in 2025.
Kelly first joined the Hip Wah Summer Program as a camper and returned for several summers as an Aide, Hip Wah 3 Assistant, and eventually Site Assistant. Now a Location Manager in the Film & Television industry, she carries the values and spirit of Hip Wah into her everyday work. With deep roots in the program and a lasting love for its joyful, supportive community, Kelly is proud to give back to a place that has shaped so much of who she is. Kelly will be onsite daily this summer.
Ding joined Hip Wah in 2022 as a volunteer intern while completing his Master’s in Educational Administration at UC Berkeley. He worked closely with our former Site Director that summer, and since then, he has been a volunteer Board member, the organizer of our Friday cultural assemblies, and the Music Festival Director.
He brings to us a decade of experience in the classroom, as a specialist, and as an administrator. In 2018, Ding moved to the Bay Area to support college and career counseling and teach English in Oakland Unified while being an Urban Leaders Fellow at the City of Oakland and a Rising Leaders Fellow with TFA Bay Area. More recently, he served as an Assistant Principal at the secondary school level and is now a Director within the Growing IQ educational organization.
Ding champions that learning should be fun and full of discovery. Learning about our cultural roots grounds us in who we are, our families, and strengthens our self-identity. When Ding first came to Hip Wah, he recognized it to be the program that he wished he had experienced in his Chinese-American youth, as it grows one’s understanding of the culture and one’s pride in being Asian. Inspired by the Hip Wah program, Ding spent part of the summer of 2024 in China where he explored his family’s origins and visited his extended family for the first time. Ding looks forward to leading Hip Wah with service, love, and understanding.
Classroom Teachers
Experience and dedication are key! Our classrooms are led by credentialed teachers passionate about giving children this Chinese experience. During the school year, they teach at schools throughout the East Bay. Their experience is evident on the first day of camp in how skillfully they orient the children, new and returning, to the summer program. Most of our teachers return year after year.
Specialized Instructors
We have specialized instructors teaching brush painting, choral and instrumental music, Mandarin language, and martial arts or lion dancing during the core camp hours.
Camp Aides and Site Assistants
They come from the Hip Wah summer program! Campers who complete Hip Wah 3 are eligible to apply for a position as a volunteer Camp Aide. The Camp Aides enthusiastically share their past Hip Wah experience with our young campers. Camp Aides are assigned to the classrooms and the office. Camp Aides assist the teachers and the students during class time, accompany students traveling to and from classrooms, and join them for recess and lunch. Campers develop a special bond with their Aides, and many strive to become Aides themselves! The Site Assistants support the Site Director and are previous Hip Wah Aides. Site Assistants provide morning Extended Care coverage and supervise the Camp Aide activities. Site Assistants are generally entering or current college students.
Extended Care Directors and Extended Care Assistants
Our Extended Care directors and team are ready to watch your children before and after camp. They’ll be ready with games, arts and crafts, outdoor play, and afternoon snacks.