At Wesleyan, a late bloomer is a student who hasn’t declared a major until junior year. At Stainke Elementary School in Donna, Texas, a late bloomer is student who hasn’t started dealing drugs until ninth grade
“In sixth grade, gangs are real big,” said first-year Teach For America corps member Brett Beach-Kimball ’05. “I would have never believed that these were the conditions.”
Working with Teach For America, Beach-Kimball and other corps members are trying to stop these developments before they take root. Teach For America is an organization of recent college graduates who work in struggling urban and rural schools across America. Trained for five weeks, Teach For America corps members become full-time, paid teachers for two years before entering other professions or graduate school.
On Monday, Beach-Kimball spoke to some 40 students at Teach For America’s drop-in dinner about applying to the program. Beach-Kimball teaches a class of 16 fourth-graders at Stainke Elementary School in Donna, Texas and feels he makes a huge difference.
“If you want to make a change [in America’s education system], you better get out there and get your hands dirty,” Beach-Kimball said.
According to Teach For America Recruitment Director Kat Campbell, the organization’s ultimate goal is to eliminate educational inequity in America, giving every child “the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”
“[Education] is at the root of so many of the issues of class and race that continue to plague our country,” Campbell said.
According to Campbell, due to lack of funding, understaffing, and problems outside of school, nine-year-olds in urban and rural areas are often three grade levels behind nine-year-olds in wealthier suburbs.
Even the students at Stainke are aware of the difficulty of receiving adequate education. Beach-Kimball recalled a time when he asked one student where she wanted to go to college and she responded that she wasn’t planning on finishing high school.
Despite difficulties, Beach-Kimball and others feel they are making a positive change. For Beach-Kimball, a difference might be as simple as a student beginning to use quotation marks correctly. For second-year Teach For America corps member Melissa DeCew ’04, helping one special education student to get his high school diploma has been especially rewarding.
“[The student made] a complete 180,” she said. “He was so lost for a while. [It’s] pretty amazing.”
The experience of being a first-year teacher effects corps members for years to come. According to Campbell, around 60 percent of Teach For America alumni continue in education, while others work in law, business, public policy, and medicine to fight educational inequity.
Alumna of Teach For America and executive director and founder of Right Quick Productions Kira Orange-Jones ’00 agrees.
“[Education] is the largest, most evident civil rights struggle of our generation,” she said. “When I reflect on my teaching, I feel as though I did impact my students’ achievement, but [I] need to spend my life doing more to help eradicate this academic inequity injustice.”
After completing two years of teaching in Baton Rouge, Orange-Jones founded Right Quick Productions to help integrate documentaries and other forms of media into low-income communities. Orange-Jones believes herself and other Wesleyan students fit the description of prospective Teach For America corps members.
“We are a passionate, critically thinking bunch, and we want to do something that makes an impact,” she said.
Teach For America encourages Wesleyan students to apply. Two Campus Campaign Managers have been hired by Teach For America to publicize the program on campus. However, some doubt the drive of Wesleyan students to make a difference.
“I feel like Wesleyan students have a great spirit, [but] for the most part, they don’t know how to focus that energy,” Beach-Kimball said.
For Campus Campaign Manager Hannah Gay ’06, the lack of action among Wesleyan students may create difficulties in advertising Teach For America on campus.
“[Wesleyan students may] say a lot and might not do a lot,” Gay said.
Prospective Teach For America corps member José Marantes ’06 finds the difficulty lies outside the student body.
“[The problem] is with so many options, and the exponential growth of our world, it sometimes feels harder to make an actual difference,” Marantes said.
Despite challenges with getting students committed to Teach For America, Beach-Kimball feels optimistic toward the potential Wesleyan students have to offer.
“I challenge the class of 2006 to use the tools that Wesleyan has given them to make a real impact on the students and the neighborhoods in our country that need them the most,” Beach-Kimball said.
The application deadline for Teach For America is Feb. 17. More information and this year’s application form can be found at www.teachforamerica.org.
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