Teach for America offers an opportunity for Syracuse University graduates to challenge themselves and give back to society in a meaningful way. The organization, founded in 1990, strives to eliminate education inequality and focuses on the needs of low-income students across the country. TFA corps members are placed in one of the organization’s 35 regions to teach high-needs students for two years. SU is ranked as one of the largest universities to contribute corps members.

The application process is time-consuming: Interested students apply online, submit a résumé and letter of intent, provide letters of recommendation and references, take part in a phone interview, and, if chosen, attend an all-day in-person interview in which they are assessed through a number of activities, including their ability to develop and teach a lesson plan.  

Last year nearly 40,000 students applied to TFA and more than 4,000 were accepted, according to Teach for America Program Director Elizabeth Fritze, who expects the organization to see similar numbers this year.  

I first heard about TFA through an on-campus representative and decided to apply because I was nervous I wouldn’t have any job offers come May. I believed in TFA’s mission to educate students in need, but my dream job was still to write for a small magazine. Kendra-Lee Rosati, the recruitment director I talked to throughout my application process, told me she clicked ‘yes’ the moment she got accepted into TFA. But when my acceptance lettercame a few weeks ago, I didn’t have that same assured feeling that this was right.  

I’ve been assigned to high school English in inner-city Dallas. In the school I will probably teach in, students go through metal detectors every morning, a security guard will escort me to my car at night, Caucasians make up 4.8 percent of the school district and more than 65 percent of my students come from Spanish-speaking families (I took French and Latin). The challenges this job offers will be much greater than teaching the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect.’ I’ll be immersed in a culture completely different from where I’ve been my whole life.

Still, TFA offers other statistics that made turning down their offer impossible: Half of the 160,000 students in Dallas public schools don’t meet the basic requirements to pass Texas state proficiency exams. Only 68 percent of students graduate high school and, of those, one in five is ready for college.

I am a first-generation college student. According to the most recent U.S. Census, only 13.6 percent of people in my community hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. I was fortunate to have teachers who motivated me to go to college, and now I have the chance to be that inspiration for someone else. I don’t want to spend my life sheltered and self-absorbed. Joining TFA ensures I’ll be helping others in meaningful and lasting ways. Teach for America is more than a two-year paid position. It is a commitment to changing the inequality of denying parts of society the education they deserve.  

In about three weeks, the next batch of TFA applicants will find out if they’ve been accepted to the organization. In a few months, SU 2011 grads can start applying. While the job is challenging, the chance we have to help our country’s education system is a great one and I hope others see the value of considering it.

Courtney Egelston is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears weekly and she can be reached at cbegelst@syr.edu.

Published on March 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm