The Teach for America program is one way that many CU graduates are choosing to make a difference.
The program allows recent graduates to become teachers at schools in areas in need across the U.S. CU has had participants in the program every year since it started in 1990.
CU was the 16th most contributing university in 2010, but lost that position last year. Close to 200 graduates applied for the program in 2011, with 32 of them going on to teach.
Camille Paige, a 22-year-old senior biochemistry, MCDB, and neuroscience major, is the campus campaign coordinator intern for Teach for America at CU. She said she is working to better promote the program to CU students in order for the university to regain its rank as a large contributor.
Paige said there are 15.5 million children in the US who do not have access to quality education, and only 1 in 13 have the chance to graduate college.
“Once I learned about the work Teach for America does, there was no way I couldn’t be involved,” Paige said. “Here is an opportunity to be a part of the solution.”
Paige posts fliers, chalks, presents to classrooms, advertises on social media websites, and promotes at campus events. She also hopes to participate in the program herself after graduating this May.
To participate, Teach for America requires students to complete a three-part application beginning with the submission of a resume and a 500-word letter of intent. The second step is to do a brief online exercise and phone interview. Applicants who make it to the third step prepare a five-minute lesson plan and take part in a full-day interview.
Megan Morton, Teach for America’s recruitment manager at CU and the Colorado regional coordinator, recommends that applicants take up leadership activities and achieve the highest grades possible in school.
Morton taught kindergarten for the KIPP Dream Prep, a public charter school in Houston’s lower-income fifth ward neighborhood. Morton said that she experienced challenges while teaching, as she had some students who did not speak any English and whose education levels were not up to state standards for their grade.
“It takes an incredible amount of hard work and perseverance to be a transformational teacher who puts her students on a new trajectory towards college and professional opportunity,” Morton said. “It’s incredibly rewarding work though, and worth every minute of the commitment.”
Morton said she left teaching to work for Teach for America because she wanted to play an important role in the movement against inequality in education. She wants to help increase the number of effective teachers and help provide every child with an excellent education.
“I think of myself as a voice for my students on college campuses,” Morton said. “That is powerful and important to me.”
Clark Becker, a 22-year-old senior philosophy major, is the campus campaign events coordinator for Teach for America at CU. He is currently waiting to hear if he has made it to the second step in the application process.
“I decided about a year ago that I wanted to apply,” Becker said. “I was motivated by a desire to help the helpless and the challenge of children who have the world working against them.”
If accepted, applicants often have a choice of whether they want to earn their master’s degree while teaching full-time. The master’s degree program varies with locations. Applicants are placed after ranking their top five choices of locations where they want to teach.
Teach for America also works with American Indian reservations, lower socioeconomic school districts and poorly performing school districts located in both urban and rural areas.
“Teaching is one of the hardest challenges you can take on, but also one of the most rewarding,” Morton said. “If you’re committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure students growing up in poverty have a fair chance at a great education, Teach for America could be the right choice for you.”
The next application deadline is Jan. 6. Those interested in applying for the Teach for America experience can contact Megan Morton at megan.morton@teachforamerica.org
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Mahala Proch at Mahala.Proch@colorado.edu.
