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Five St. Olaf seniors to join Teach For America

By Kari VanDerVeen
May 20, 2008

BarnettJames
Barnett
This fall five St. Olaf College seniors will join Teach For America, the nation's largest provider of teachers for low-income communities.

Sarah Frank and Magdalena Wells will teach in Kansas City, Mo.; Hannah Swanson will teach in Houston; James Barnett will teach in Charlotte, N.C.; and Erica Jaastad will teach in Connecticut. These Oles are among 3,700 new teachers who were chosen to join the corps this fall out of the more than 25,000 individuals who applied. They have committed to spend the next two years teaching students in low-income communities and become part of an effort to ensure that more students have access to a high-quality education.

JaastadErica
Jaastad
"I joined Teach For America because I believe the education inequality gap in this country is a human rights issue," says Jaastad, a political science and history major who will teach elementary school. "Teach For America allows me to join a cause that treats this issue with the sense of urgency it deserves. For two years I can be a part of a movement that changes lives."

Since 1990, 32 St. Olaf alumni have joined Teach For America. The organization helps Oles lead lives of worth and service by enabling them to positively impact the lives of others and work toward concrete change in education, Frank says.

FrankSarah
Frank
"Teach For America's community of support will allow me to push myself to new limits and work toward a goal of educational equity that benefits my community, the nation and, ultimately, our world," says Frank, a sociology and anthropology major who will be teaching elementary school. "I will strive to give these children a safe, supportive and engaging learning community, in which they will grow to succeed far beyond previous expectations held by themselves and others."

The 2008 Teach For America corps was selected from a record number of applicants, and it is the largest incoming corps in the organization's 18-year history by nearly 30 percent. Teach For America is in the midst of a five-year growth plan that aims to have 8,000 corps members in at least 33 regions across the U.S. by 2010.

SwansonHannah
Swanson
"I have always been relatively successful at everything I tried in school because at times when I was struggling, there was always a teacher there to help me and make sure that I could master the subject," says Swanson, a dance and French major who will teach elementary school. "It saddens me that not all students have access to that sort of help and encouragement in their education; yet as saddening as it is, it is something that can be changed."

The mission of Teach For America, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1990, is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity that exists along socioeconomic lines. This year approximately 5,000 corps members are teaching in 26 urban and rural areas across the country, collectively reaching approximately 440,000 students. At the same time, more than 12,000 Teach For America alumni are working in various ways to make the fundamental changes necessary to close the achievement gap.
WellsMagdalena
Wells

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.