Tēnā koutou  

Ko Wal-ah te māunga  

Ko Nam te awa 

Ko Mil-yang te iwi  

Ko Ah-dang te hapū  

Nō Pusan, Korea ahau  

Ko SeungHee Cindy tōku ingoa  

Ko Kirikiriroa, Waikato tōku kainga 

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa 

SeungHee Cindy Pak is a migrant from Korea and came to Aotearoa as an international student at the University of Auckland in 2003, where she completed her Masters and PhD studies. Her PhD research focused on language learning and identity amongst Syrian refugee background youth attending local secondary educational institutes. This research has a particular emphasis on the voices of young learners as a way to understand resettlement experiences and their wellbeing in Aotearoa.   

She has been very passionate about supporting and empowering migrant communities in Aotearoa. She volunteered as a Korean translator with TANI between 2017 and 2018. She had also worked as a volunteer support worker for refugee background families through Red Cross Pathways to Resettlement Programme in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland between 2013 and 2019 prior to moving to Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. She has been working and volunteering as a teacher for the Waikato Korean School and for migrant background students through English Language Partners Hamilton since 2020. Through her engagement with migrant background communities and her personal experience as a Korean migrant, she gained a deep knowledge of the critical role of physical and psychological health and wellbeing in the process of migrants’ resettlement/integration in Aotearoa New Zealand society. 

SeungHee also works part-time as a language teacher (English and Korean) and a researcher. She likes to go to the gym, meditate, hike, study Te Reo Māori, and cook Korean food with her daughter in her free time.