Teach For America has long been lauded as a competitive program for bright college graduates to hone their chops in an intensive learning environment, while educating children at some of the nation’s lowest performing schools. TFA historically has a less than 10% acceptance rate, bringing in applicants from the best institutions around the country. Currently, the Corps consists of approximately 4,500 graduates, graduate students, and professionals. Although these post-grads come from a variety of disciplines and personal circumstance, they all share a strong goal of “closing the gap” on educational inequity that exists throughout our nation. This year, Northeastern University – and SEI in particular – are proud that seven SE students were accepted as Corps members for the 2011 to 2013 cycle.
For Serrano Legrand, who was most recently nominated for the class of 2011’s 100 Most Influential Seniors, the route to Teach for America seemed like a natural way to give back, as Legrand recalls his own experience growing up in a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Luckily, fortune and hard work landed him at Bay Academy for the Arts and Sciences. This high quality middle school gave him the atmosphere and the confidence to immerse himself in his studies and extracurricular activities. His impressive resume gave him his pick of universities to attend. Legrand turned down a full scholarship to Babson College, and instead used his new status as a Gates Millennium Scholar to finance his undergraduate career as a Husky at Northeastern University. This June, Legrand leaves Northeastern’s campus to settle in to his new home in Atlanta, Georgia prior to working in the classroom this fall. He looks forward to spending the next two years as a “street-level bureaucrat” working to reform the education system through his work “creating a culture of achievement despite all barriers and adversity both within the classroom and happening in their external environments,” said Legrand.
Another Corps member, Political Science senior Samantha Jones feels fortunate to have grown up in an upper middle class town that provided her academic opportunities for success. This fall, Jones will work with elementary school students in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite her excitement, she has her worries about learning a new culture and moving to a new place. “There are a lot of challenging aspects to juggle and I know that this will be a hard journey”, says Jones. She plans to work tirelessly to ensure that her students reach their full academic potential by providing them with a quality education. Jones has made serious goals with respect to her TFA career. “My most important goal for the future is for all of my students to leave my classroom with the confidence and skills needed to succeed in the next step in their educational career and that they will successfully pass every challenge they will face,” said Jones.
Corps member Kerry Ross attributes his upbringing as a major deciding factor for his Teach for America position. “My parents have always worked in the social sector,” says Ross. “My father a social worker in Atlantic City, NJ for 25 years and my mother, a high school teacher for students with learning disabilities. It was ingrained in me as a child that my career path would be serving others, improving lives, and ultimately working to make the world a better place,” said Ross. For Ross, he felt his affinity for social entrepreneurship started and ended with SEI. He initially became involved in his sophomore year when he took the first Social Entrepreneurship course with Professor Shaughnessy in the fall of 2007. He continued to make Social Entrepreneurship and integral part of his education at Northeastern and also traveled with SEI in the summer of 2010 to Belize and the Dominican Republic to work with micro-finance borrowers.
While these three different TFA Corps Members come from varying backgrounds and neighborhoods, their mutual affinity for social entrepreneurship have certainly led them to a new future in helping others through education reform. “The experiences and knowledge I gained through SEI has motivated me to continue to offer my services to the poor, but my mission now has been redirected to assisting the poor in our own country,” said Ross.
For more information on Teach for America, please visit www.teachforamerica.org
