I-House Principal Dr. Choi departs for Santa Ana

By Kendra Martinez, Staff Writer

After about two years of working at Samo, Vivian Choi’s last day working as the I House Principal was on Sept. 23. She is now working for the Santa Ana Unified School District as the Assistant Director of Support Services. Her departure from Samo was sudden and due to a couple of reasons, including her difficult commute from Orange County. 

Dr. Choi worked as the I-House Principal at Samo for two years

Choi had been working at Samo since July 2018 and she always held the position of the I House Principal. She said leaving Samo was not in her original plan, but the long commute from Orange County to Santa Monica was becoming more difficult. When her husband started working at a job closer to Orange County, they decided it would be best for her to work closer to home. Choi said they arrived at this decision after trying to find a middle ground, where they would both have to endure traffic and have difficult commutes. She didn’t want to have to change jobs until it was the last available option. 

“I was finally able to call Samo home and then I had to leave,” Choi said. 

She said the most upsetting part about leaving was saying goodbye to the staff through Zoom and barely being able to say goodbye to students. The Samo staff have also expressed their thoughts about Choi’s departure from Samo. Principal Antonio Shelton and I House Counselor Jessica Garrido both said they are sad to see Choi leave the community, but are excited and proud of her accomplishments.

“Honesty, she would say it as it is and I will miss her high standards for people,” Shelton said. 

 The Samo staff will each miss something different about Choi. 

“Her follow-through, whenever I would come to her for something, I knew I would get an answer,” Garrido said. 

Choi attended Fullerton College and then went to UC Irvine, where she received her masters in teaching and her admin credential. Originally, Choi said she planned on becoming a high school teacher because she loved working with students. Choi decided to become a principal after receiving her admin credentials. She stayed in that position, but she knew she could always go back to teaching. Choi later went to USC, where she received her doctorate degree. 

As of right now, it is undecided who will replace Choi as the new I House Principal. According to Shelton, the job has been posted and he will begin interviewing people for the position soon.

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