Teach for America

January 26, 2012

Jenni Whalen

According to Sara Metzger, a Recruitment Associate for Pennsylvania and Delaware, Teach For America actively recruits individuals who demonstrate leadership, high achievement, strong critical thinking skills, organizational skills, interpersonal skills and a desire to work relentlessly in pursuit of the organization’s vision. This year, Teach For America has found many of their new corps members in the University’s Class of 2012. Exact numbers will not be released until the end of the recruiting season, but at least 20 members of the Class of 2012 have been offered positions to work with Teach For America for the next two years.

Alicia Wheeler ’12, Kara Cheever ’12, Jaclyn Kirna ’12, Madeline Quirk ’12, Kayla Czajkowski ’12, Clark Bogle ’12, Kaitlyn Smith ’12, Hannah Zachary ’12, Eric Soble ’12, Phil Kim ’12, Michelle Doak ’12, Lizzie Kamins ’12, Erinn Flandreau ’12, Colin Doggett ’12, Mollie Morris ’12, Adam Andersen ’12 and other unidentified students have been offered placements across the United States. This number of accepted corps members is substantially higher than last year’s number.

“I decided to apply for Teach For America after going on alternative break trips where I witnessed the huge disparity that exists throughout the world,” said Doak, who has been placed with grades K, 1 or 2 in Miami-Dade. “It didn’t make sense to me why I was lucky enough to grow up with so many opportunities, educationally and otherwise, while children born in other areas are on a trajectory to remain in the cycle of poverty. I see education as such a powerful tool to close these gaps and help to give children the chance to succeed.”

Teach For America recruits heavily during the fall and early spring semesters at universities across the nation. There are five application deadlines, each of which offers students an equally weighted chance at the opportunity to become a member of Teach for America’s qualified staff. The final deadline for this year’s recruitment season is Friday, Feb. 10.

“You are not entering a classroom by yourself as a first-year teacher to tackle the issue of educational inequity on your own; you have a powerful support network of other corps members and veteran educators who are doing the same thing as you, are passionate about the same thing as you and are working to become the best, most transformational teachers possible. It encourages you to be your best, every day, for your kids,” Metzger said.

The recently accepted corps members share Metzger’s excitement and are anxious to begin their training in May.

“I am pretty pumped to be in the Bay Area and, as nerdy as it sounds, I’m super excited to put lesson plans together,” said Kim, regarding his general science and biology placement in San Francisco.

For more information about applying to become a corps member of Teach For America, interested students should contact Quirk, Teach for America’s Campus Campaign Coordinator and intern.

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