Teacher, 1990-now
Dr. Marty Schmidt has been a popular Humanities teacher in the High School at HKIS since 1990, teaching history, English, and religion courses. Since the mid-1990’s he has also been instrumental in developing many of the school’s service learning initiatives, in particular the Humanities I In Action course.
From 1999 to 2014, his position also included a ministry of human care with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Hong Kong, southern China, and others parts of Asia.
Mark Sheldon, who was the Director of HKIS’s Office of Institutional Advancement (as it was then called) from 2006 to 2009, admires Marty and his work greatly. “Marty is a very dedicated and respected Humanities teacher, with a strong emphasis on service learning and on contextualizing his theology and faith. He’s always learning and always open-minded, teaching important areas for students to learn and serve, and to understand the Hong Kong and southern China context. Marty has done many service trips around the region, always wishing new learnings for his students. He is also very active in regional Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod educational networks – he’s a model missionary educator with an open heart.”
An article in Dragon Tales (Winter 2016) quotes alumna Tiffany Chan ’08, about the effect on her of the Humanities I In Action course and service learning trips: “It was, ultimately, the ignition of a fire that I hope will never cease to burn.”
Fellow HKIS Humanities teacher George Coombs says Marty’s Ph.D. research on the topic of service-learning “has added much to our understanding of the transformative power of service in the formation of social conscience. His work is a real labor of love and a gift to the school.”
See Marty’s TEDxHongKongED talk, presented jointly with his HKIS colleague Mike Kersten in May 2014.