UW-Madison senior Amanda Tylicki will graduate this May and teach elementary school in California this fall. A nationwide organization, Teach for America, works to place exceptional college graduates, such as Tylicki, in two-year teaching stints in schools around the country.
A major goal of TFA is to make an immediate impact on children in classrooms nationwide according to UW-Madison TFA Campaign Coordinator Jill Dovale.
Six UW-Madison alumni who have worked with the program came to Union South Tuesday to relate their experiences and provide advice to prospective applicants.
The group and its members are also concerned about serious inequality problems facing modern education. The TFA Web site states, \Children growing up in low-income communities are seven times less likely to graduate from college than children in high-income areas.""
This, and similar statistics, is in part why graduates are willing to dedicate their time to TFA, students said.
""I want to try and make a difference,"" Tylicki said. ""And I think that fundamentally what this country needs is a generation of students who are willing to commit themselves to a cause and commit themselves to making the world a better place for everyone.""
The program is not just for prospective teachers, however. While 60 percent of students who teach with TFA stay in the education field, the other 40 percent use the experience in other careers.
TFA members going into varied fields such as law, journalism and medicine and will benefit from their time teaching Dovale said.
""You don't have to stay within education to make a further impact,"" she said. ""Not only do we make an immediate change, but also our corps members go on to enact fundamental change through whatever career they choose to pursue afterwards.""
Kristopher Miller, one of the alumni that spoke, is currently teaching in rural North Carolina and plans to go to law school. He said he feels he has made a difference in the lives of his students.
""Many of them had never really learned in school before,"" he said.
""No one expected them to.""
The TFA program is highly selective with only about 10 to 11 percent of applicants accepted. The percent accepted at UW-Madison is generally slightly higher. Out of 76 UW-Madison students applying to TFA for the Oct. 24 deadline, 15 were accepted.
