Lily Din Woo

Cahn Fellow 2003

Principal, P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto

Manhattan, New York

Lily Din Woo was one of the 16 Principals in the first Cahn Fellows cohort in 2003 as Principal of P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto in Manhattan, NY.

Lily was instrumental in transforming P.S. 130 Manhattan from a struggling school into a consistently high performing school that has been recognized by New York City, New York State and US Department of Education as a Title I Distinguished School and as a demonstration site for its ability to incorporate the arts into the education of every child in the school. In her 44 years in education, Lily has also served as a classroom teacher, an ESL teacher, an ESL staff developer, and as a director for a demonstration project for the Division of High Schools with the NYC Department of Education. Within that time span, she had also served six years with the New York State Education Department as an Associate with the Division of Bilingual Education. She is a product of the NYC public school system. She received her B.A. from Queens College, CUNY, where she majored in Elementary Education and her M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University.

Lily has served her community as a school principal for 25 years and has received many awards in her life for her service: most notable were the NYC and NYS Distinguished Educator Awards in 2002; recognition by the 2004 World Olympics Committee as an “Everyday Hero” and had the honor of running part of the New York City leg of the Summer World Olympics Torch Relay that year; and Manhattan Media’s 2010 “Principal of the Year” Blackboard Award. At her retirement celebration in 2014, she received proclamations from the City Council and the NYS Senate for her long-standing service as principal in her school and community, and in 2016, received recognition as one of City University of New York’s Outstanding Asian American Alumni.

After her retirement from the New York City Department of Education, Lily took on the roll of Program Director for the Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished Principals where she served from 2014 to 2018.

In January of 2023, Lily was recognized by the Asian American Association of CSA for her dedication and commitment to education and support of educational leaders and her relentless pursuit of excellence in education for all students.