OU graduate Craig Trujillo left campus in 2008 on a mission. His goal: to ensure that quality education isn’t a privilege for a few, but a basic right for all.
Trujillo got a chance to fulfill that goal from Teach for America, an organization that recruits qualified individuals with a passion for teaching and places them in low-income community schools for two-year periods. Trujillo started teaching in Houston, and still teaches at the same high school today.
Joining Teach for America is an option for any U.S. citizen or permanent resident, but many college seniors find it an attractive option as a post-graduate plan.
“I understood that if I was selected to be a part of [Teach for America], I would become part of something that endured,” Trujillo said. “I understood that teaching is not something you do with hesitation, but it is something you become.”
Teachers, or Teach for America corps members, commit to teaching for two years, although 60 percent of them choose to stay at their placement for at least a third year, said Jefferson Baum, Recruitment Director for Teach for America.
“Our teachers are fully employed by the school districts in which they teach, so they have full starting salaries and benefits that any other teacher working at the school would receive,” Baum said.
Students of any major, not just education, may apply to work for Teach for America. But even those who might not have thought about teaching as a long-term career reconsider — nearly 2/3 of Teach for America alumni still work in education, and 91 percent of those teach in low-income communities, Baum said.
Jessica Johnson, a 2008 graduate of Gaylord College’s graduate program, has made a career out of her experience in Teach for America. She said she wanted to become part of a movement to fill the achievement gap that exists between students in upper-income and low-income schools.
“We are responsible for our future, and our future is not being fully prepared,” Johnson said.
She teaches third grade students in Camden, N.J., the same city where she began teaching as a member of Teach for America.
Even those who fulfilled their two years in Teach for America and moved on to pursue different careers may still have a stake in education.
Mark Moravits, 2005 public relations graduate, taught for two years in Houston. He now works for the non-profit organization Points of Light Institute, where he helps for-profit companies use their resources to benefit public education.
He said his experience as a Teach for America corps member equipped him with leadership skills and problem-solving strategies, skills he said he could not have acquired at any other entry-level job.
Teach for America corps members must have a bachelor’s degree and at least a 2.5 grade point average.
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soonerboomers 1 year, 7 months ago
Please don't waste your time doing teach for america. Please do something that might actually help out the poor.
theotherone 1 year, 7 months ago
As someone who is a recent OU grad and is currently doing Teach for America, I can tell you that soonerboomers has no idea what he's talking about.
soonerboomers 1 year, 7 months ago
As someone who can read and who knows things about what causes children from poor neighborhoods to perform poorly, I can tell you that theotherone is doing nothing helpful to anyone. Read the studies on TFA; the program produces basically no results. The program isn't even designed to solve systemic problems. It's a joke and sadly theotherone got sucked in.