PLAID’s mission is to support a vibrant and inclusive environment in which all members of the community can celebrate their authentic selves. 

PLAID fosters open dialogue through family programs, parent education, and community outreach.

We recently had the opportunity to interview PLAID Co-chair, Christopher Tan.

1) Why is PLAID’s work important to you?

My wife and I have two precious daughters, one in 2nd grade and one in Kindergarten. While they are just starting out on their journeys through life, it is likely that Hamlin will be the organization with which we will have the longest affiliation. Our girls will be spending their formative ages here, so of course we want to expend every effort to help foster a healthy school community! Also, part of our daughters’ education is learning how to operate in a global environment (notwithstanding the current lurch towards nationalism). To thrive in an increasingly connected world, our girls must:

-gain exposure to cultural, socioeconomic, and other differences
-learn how to navigate through them
-find common cause with other individuals
-but also retain their core values

PLAID’s twin goals of broadening perspectives and deepening connections within the Hamlin community are very much in line with our personal philosophy… so I don’t really think of it as “work.” 🙂

2) Tell us something about yourself as it relates to PLAID.

I grew up in Singapore and lived there for 20 years before moving to the United States. Singapore is a small nation of 5 million Chinese, Indians, Malays and Eurasians; a former British colony, it gained its independence in 1965. With no common culture and no natural resources, Singapore was “not supposed to exist” (to quote the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s first Prime Minister). However, great pains were taken to promote community—we were always encouraged to participate in birthdays, weddings, funerals, and religious celebrations of other races, for example—and to instill a sense of common destiny. I believe that this has been a key factor of Singapore’s success: people worked hard together to build a country that in 50 years has gone from mosquito-infested tropical backwater, to a first world country with a GDP per capita rivaling Norway and Switzerland.

At Hamlin, I see strong parallels that have contributed to its success. We may come from very different backgrounds, but we share a common mission (to “educate girls to meet the challenges of their time”) and espouse the same values of compassion, courage, honesty, respect and responsibility. When Judy Ching asked me to consider joining the team, and I found out that PLAID’s objective is to help weave the many threads of Hamlin families into one community, I jumped at the opportunity to contribute!

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