Wan Park: Team TCS Teacher Finds Beauty in Math and Being Consistent

Wan Park is one of 50 teachers who were chosen to be a part of Team TCS Teachers, an initiative that selects teachers in North America to run 26.2 miles in New York. Running as a Team TCS teacher is meaningful to him in many ways.

“I feel like I won the lottery. I also I feel like they are recognizing teachers and celebrating being a teacher. I really appreciate that,” he said.

Wan lives in Kew Gardens and teaches pre-calculus and algebra to high school students at the Community School for Social Justice in the South Bronx, located near Mile 19 of the TCS New York City Marathon course. He said it’s important to provide consistency for students.

“It’s being there every day for kids so that they can learn from the same source and the same people who are there for them,” he said. “Running is like that for me. I know that it’s there all the time and if I tap into it, I can have a good day.”

Before becoming a teacher, Wan was an engineer but was unhappy with his job. He moved to New York City in 2002 with his then girlfriend, now wife, and started looking for a change.

“My friend, who was a teacher said, we always need teachers. So that prompted me into applying to New York City Teaching Fellows,” he said. “I want all the kids to be able to do something great. And math is sort of a conduit to that. I really want them to see the beauty of mathematics.”

Wan started running when he was 14 years old, after emigrating from South Korea. He joined the soccer team at school but was having trouble understanding instructions at practice, so he turned to running instead.

“It was obvious what you had to do when the [start] gun went off,” Wan said.

He raced 200-, 400-, and 800-meter sprints in high school and then transitioned to running 5Ks in college. He embraced the longer distance and eventually ran his first marathon after college while living in Florida, then qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon.

He said his students have been asking him about his training for the TCS New York City marathon as they see him and another teacher at the school going for runs nearby.

“They ask [us], ‘What does it feel like running 26.2 miles? Why do you even do it?’ We tell them, it's something you can do if you put your mind to it,” he said.

The last time Wan ran the New York City Marathon was in 2011 and he looks forward to experiencing it again.

“I feel like it's a celebration of all the training you've done, and it's almost like a giant party for New York City where everybody's cheers for you,” Wan said.

You can also check out an interview with Wan on NYRR's YouTube channel here.

Wan is part of #TeamInspire at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon, a diverse group of runners whose stories capture the power of running to change lives. Read other #TeamInspire stories at the links below:

Mandy Kwan: Going the Distance with Family

Margot Fleming: Running in Memory of a Champion

Aubrey Barr: Beating the Odds

Tricia Quartey-Sagaille: Running for Black Maternal Health

Roman Kashpur: Pushing the Limits