Kathy Ho '93

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Kathy Ho '93 was selected as a runners-up for Road Scholar’s 2026 Educator Legacy Award.

Ho served as a hospital school teacher for 28 years, working tirelessly to advocate for medically fragile children, who are often overlooked in traditional educational models. She worked to give hospitalized students as normal a school experience as possible, creating and organizing a hospital school prom (now in its 15th year) and directing the LABScI science program to bring hands-on lab activities into the hospital.

Ho took her advocacy beyond the school walls, serving as president of the national organization for hospital school teachers (AECMN), initiated and organized her state’s network of hospital schools, and co-wrote legislation protecting medically fragile children that was enacted in California Education Code.

Ho is also passionate about giving her patients the opportunity to experience the natural world. By teaching children about nature, she believes they can be inspired to become the next generation of environmental stewards and conservationists. She created a "virtual" field trip program to bring the outdoors inside the hospital, allowing students to explore places they might not otherwise have the chance to visit. This work eventually led to her becoming a National Geographic Explorer.

In her post-retirement life, Ho continues to create hands-on activities to complement VR experiences that spark curiosity and excitement about the world. She is proud to have been part of so many students’ lives and remains deeply inspired by their determination and courage. She hopes, in some small way, that she has inspired them as much as they inspired her.