Music Director Uses her Passion for Music
and Education to Inspire her Students
WOMEN of ACHIEVEMENT
OCCUPATION /POSITION: Music Director
EMPLOYER: Aviation HS in LIC, NY
HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY
MENTOR: Parents
HOBBY: Running and traveling
FAVORITE BOOKS: Novels by John Steinbeck,
Cormac McCarthy, and Stephen King
FAVORITE MOVIES: Sci-Fi genre
HAPPY PLACE: My home
FAVORITE QUOTE OR MOTTO: “Et ex corde
diligamus nos sincero” from Ubi Caritas et
amor
AIRPORT VOICE, APRIL 2019 27
BY JESSICA MILITELLO
For the past eight years, Elizabeth Park
has combined her passion for music and teaching
the youth as the music director of Aviation
High School in Long Island City, New
York. Park certainly takes the school’s motto,
“Where Dreams Take Flight” to another level
by organizing performances for her students’
band at Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy Airport
and encouraging their creativity.
At Aviation High School, with an intense
curriculum of academic and technical classes,
Park tries to provide a different kind of outlet
for her students with her music program.
With some help from teacher Ajay Dookie and
Pastor Dabee, Park was able to provide her
students with opportunities for her students’
band to perform at Terminal 4.
“Other than my innate passion for the performing
arts, my inspiration for my career
continues to be my students,” said Park. “As
the music director, I try to bridge the creative
and aesthetic elements into my students’ lives
and grant them a space to express themselves
through art.”
For Park, her dedication to music and education
can be traced back to her upbringing.
Before she moved to the United States, much
of her childhood memories take place on her
parents’ farm in Korea. When she moved to the
U.S., she struggled with adapting to a change
in culture and language, but music provided
an outlet to not only express herself, but always
bore familiarity from growing up in a
home where music was often playing. Her hard
work led to earning two master’s degrees; one
in music from Indiana University and another
in education from Columbia University.
Throughout Park’s career, her positive outlook
has helped her to succeed, and she tries to
convey that to her students as well.
“I tell my students that whatever they end
up doing, they need to have passion,” said
Park. That’s going to be the foundation for everything.
You also can’t be afraid to fail, because
it’s part of life. The important thing is
not focusing on the failure, it’s focusing on
what can I learn from this and how can I think
positively.”
Airway Congratulates the
Women of Achievement Honorees
and extends a Special ‘Thank You’
to all of our Women Team Members
for everything they do !