For the past three years, Texas A&M has been a top contributor to the Teach for America program, now ranking sixth in the nation in number of teachers committed.
Graduating students from across campus have committed to teach for two years in low-income communities where resources can sometimes be scarce. These students are not necessarily education majors. Teach for America provides its members training and support to fulfill their terms, and from there, some choose to stay in the field of education while others go on to become lawyers, policy makers, doctors and everything in between.
Blessing Emeghara, recruitment manager for Teach for America, said she is excited by the growth she has seen over the past couple of years at A&M.
“It’s cool to see so many people dedicated to A&M’s core values,” Emeghara said. “There are so many people willing to learn and gain a diverse perspective, and the Aggie Network is really at work. Many Aggies are going into Teach for America, and they encourage other Aggies to do it because they see the value.”
Sociology senior Carolina Zarate said she never thought she would become a teacher, but realized joining Teach for America could help her achieve her career goal of working as a lawyer focused on public policy.
“Teach for America was perfect for me because I always heard it was best to get some work experience before going to law school,” Zarate said. “Working in a district without the basics will be a learning experience that helps me understand problems with current policy,”
Zarate said her previous volunteer experience inspired her to look into how she could help those in low-income communities without the same opportunities she had.
“I’m from the Rio Grande Valley region and had nice schools but only 20-30 minutes away from me were schools without even the basics,” Zarate said. “It’s not that they were less worthy, they just had less opportunity. I think it’s cool how in Teach for America we are all tackling the same problem with our different strengths.”
Sydney Bay, recruitment director for Teach for America and former recruiter for Texas A&M, said the program provides perspective that can benefit participants no matter what career they pursue.
“I like to call Teach for America ‘leadership development grad school,’” Bay said. “You can find overlap between your career path and Teach for America. The course of the entire country’s issues stems from education.”
At its core, Teach for America is striving to address the issue of educational inequity, or educational opportunity not being equally distributed among race and class, Emeghara said.
“After Teach for America, you see the world with a different sense of urgency,” Emeghara said. “The young kids you see going through hard things have a name and a face. You have the privilege of knowledge, so you can no longer be a bystander. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”