After 17 years of school, most seniors are ready to do something different when they graduate. Twenty-one Tufts seniors, however, are headed right back to school. And no, it's not to grad school.
This coming school year, over 3,000 students nationally will be participating in Teach for America, a venue for graduating seniors to make a difference in a direct and concrete way. The program, according to its Web site, aims to lessen the gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged by sending qualified graduates to under-resourced schools to teach for two years.
"The opportunity to effect change straight out of college is what interested me in Teach for America," senior Samuel Ronfard said.
Another graduating senior was drawn to the possibility of helping out within the United States.
"I was thinking about doing Peace Corps, but after studying abroad for a year, I realized I wasn't ready to leave the country for another two years," senior Amara Nickerson said. "Teach for America is a wonderful domestic service-oriented opportunity."
But the application process isn't easy, according to senior Dave Baumwoll. After a round of paper application selection, students attend an all-day session of interviews and simulations.
"You have to teach a lesson to a class on a particular subject of your choosing," Baumwoll said. "They give you scenarios to see how you're going to interact with other candidates.
Overall, it was a unique experience to fit a unique program, Baumwoll explained. "It was a very interesting process; it wasn't exactly easy, but in the end, I'm really glad to have gone through it."
Part of the pull of Teach for America is that the program works only with under-resourced schools. "It's what makes Teach for America compelling," Nickerson said.
"It's not just teaching to teach; it's teaching to be part of a bigger effort to address the inequality that exists in education in our country today," Nickerson added.
Graduates who take part in Teach for America get a fair amount of freedom to choose the area of the country in which they are most interested in working. For instance, Ronfard will be teaching in New York City in a special education classroom, and Nickerson will be working in Brownsville, Texas.
For Baumwoll, the prospect of going back home was appealing. "I'll be teaching in Newark, New Jersey. I'm from about 10 miles away, so I had a personal stake in working there as opposed to going to some random place," he said.
While a two-year commitment to teaching is significant, most graduates plan to pursue a career path outside of education after finishing the program. "I used to be [interested in education] when I was younger; then my interests strayed to politics around sophomore and junior year of high school," Nickerson said.
"I'd like to go to law school after the program," Baumwoll said. "A lot of people end up going into grad school after the program. The experience of Teach for America is supposed to be absolutely invaluable; you don't need to stay in education for it to be meaningful," he added.
Ronfard, though, hopes that Teach for America will guide him in his career choices. "I have had a vague interest in teaching for the last couple of years, and when I learned more about Teach for America's program, I decided that this was something that I needed to do," he said.
The program begins with the new recruits attending a summer training institute along with other future teachers and continues in September with placement of the newly trained teachers in the classroom.
"I am very excited," Ronfard said. "I can't wait to get to the summer institute and meet the other corps members, and I can't wait to start teaching."
Not everyone is quite so fearless. For Nickerson, the prospect of standing in front of a full classroom is exciting, but daunting.
"I'm so excited, but also really nervous. It's a huge responsibility to be accountable for the education of a classroom of students," she said.
Baumwoll, Nickerson and Ronfard all have socially oriented goals: Each wants to improve opportunities for the students in the schools where they will be teaching.
"Education in many forms is a vehicle by which people can achieve the American dream. A lot of these places are in such dire straits that students don't have much of a chance, and my goal is to give the students I'm teaching an opportunity to achieve," Baumwoll said.
"At this point, it seems as though lack of resources and all sorts of negative conditions are not going to allow them to do that. My goal is to make a difference in their lives," Baumwoll added.
Nickerson agreed: "My biggest goal is to help my students succeed academically and learn to have confidence in their own abilities," she said.
Teaching allows for change in a unique way, and Ronfard looks forward to taking it on the challenge.
"As a teacher, you can have an impact everywhere, but I believe that I can make a greater impact in under-resourced schools," he said.
"I hope to make a positive impact in the community I will join," he added.
All three believe that their Tufts educations have prepared them for Teach for America. Nickerson feels prepared to use her knowledge from experience in the classroom. "I think the fact that I've done a lot of experiential learning at Tufts makes me better prepared to apply academic knowledge to the real world," she said.
"Tufts has absolutely prepared me," Baumwoll said. "I think the emphasis that Tufts places on active citizenship and leadership has been extremely helpful in preparing me to stand in front of a classroom and help impart knowledge.
"Future seniors or anyone else should try to make sure that they're not getting caught up in the idea of having to get a job and be on a particular track," Baumwoll added. "Teach for America offers the opportunity to have an experience for the rest of your life before starting your actual career."
