Pepperdine alumni involved with the Teach for America program will come to campus Monday Nov. 3 in an effort to introduce and encourage increased participation in the program.
Teach for America is a nation-wide program that seeks to end educational injustice. It recruits recent college graduates who are the nation’s most promising future leaders and is a two-year commitment where participants teach in the most impoverished schools in the nation. Of the 13 million children growing up in poverty 9 out of 10 of them will not graduate from college according to Josh Dickson the recruitment director for the Teach for America program. Teach for America works to create solutions for these injustices and has a good deal to offer those who participate according to junior Daniel Polk campus campaign coordinator.
“The absolute most beneficial thing about the TFA experience is that you get to radically impact a classroom of kids’ lives and give them the energy and the know-how to feel empowered which in turn affects families and communities in a beautiful way Polk said.
Andy Canales, Pepperdine’s 2007 SGA president, is participating in Teach for America and will accompany other alumni to campus.
Teaching in an inner-city school is very challenging especially the first year Canales said. I hope I can provide students with a realistic understanding of the Teach for America experience both its challenges and rewards. I hope to encourage students to apply to Teach for America and answer any questions they may have.”
Dickson said Pepperdine alumni continue to make a difference well after they have completed the Teach for America program.
“Aside from those who stay in education our alumni are advocates and leaders for educational equity in law business journalism policy medicine and many other sectors of society Dickson said. Across the board while our corps members [currently in the program] are making significant academic progress in the classroom our alumni are working to put structures and policies in place that will most effectively allow our children to excel.”
By bringing alumni back to campus Dickson hopes to inspire Pepperdine students to get involved with the program.
“While many schools across the country are contributing varying numbers of graduates to our program from year to year the number of Pepperdine graduates who join Teach for America almost doubled from 7 to 13 in two years Dickson said. This is a trend we would love to continue.”
There are already a fair amount of students who have shown interest. One such example is senior Michael Rennaker.
“I want to be a part of TFA because I want to give kids the same opportunities I’ve been given Rennaker said. I think the best part of the program is that it provides college graduates with the opportunity to create a meaningful impact in our country before they go out into corporate America.”
Polk encourages other students to apply along with Rennaker for the Teach for America program by November 7th through the PVC.