More Wesleyan students than ever applied to Teach for America this year. Teach for America is an organization that gives college graduates the opportunity to translate knowledge of injustice into action for social change. Forty-one Wesleyan seniors turned in applications by last Friday’s deadline, an 11% increase from last year.
“[Teach for America] is a great way to get involved in social change immediately upon graduation, which is definitely a focus here at Wesleyan,” said co-Campus Campaign Manager Jess Weidmann ’05.
Weidmann, along with Henry White ’05 and Emily Polak ’05, hold the responsibilities of publicizing the program and informing students of upcoming visitors and Teach for America information sessions.
While nearly 60% of accepted applicants end up working in the education field, Teach for America’s primary mission is not to train college graduates to become teachers. First and foremost, their goal is to eliminate educational inequity by targeting low-income rural and urban areas.
“There is really a two-fold mission,” Weidmann said. “There’s the actual teaching in the classroom with students, which is really beneficial to them, and then there’s the long term mission that, by having all these college grads get involved with this, it will build their devotion to the field of education.”
The corps has a selective application process that includes a general application, two essays, two letters of recommendation, a college transcript, and, if the applicant makes it beyond the first round of elimination, an interview.
Once applicants are accepted, they are enrolled in a two-year program that includes immediate teaching experience in the classroom in addition to taking courses that relate to teaching and the social influences of the region. Depending on the location, a master’s degree in education can be received after completing the program.
While it is not required for campaign managers to apply for Teach for America, Weidmann was one of the 41 to turn in a final application last week.
“My career goal at this point is to work in education reform, and this is a great way into that,” she said.
For the first deadline, applicants were not asked to specify their location preferences. After the initial screening in March, the selected applicant pool will be asked to list their top three choices out of a possible 22 locations across the country. Applicants are generally granted one of their top three preferences, if not their first.
“Teach for America is very devoted to the recruitment process,” Weidmann said. “They want as many people as possible to apply, and for them to be as qualified as possible. They have people like me, Emily, and Henry at colleges across the country, and we put a lot of work into having campus visitors and information sessions.”
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