Teach for America Brings Harvard Graduates to Underprivileged Communities

Across the Yard from recruiting meetings at the Faculty Club, Teach for America (TFA), an AmeriCorps program, is showing some students that there are worthy careers outside of investment banking and consulting.

Information sessions for TFA are not your typical recruiting mingle-fests. That's just one of the things about the AmeriCorps program that students found out on Tuesday, when two TFA alumni came to Phillips Brooks House to discuss the program with prospective applicants.

Xanthe F. Jory, a student at the Graduate School of Education (GSE), unfurled a TFA banner while about 20 people filtered into a tiny room.

"One thing you learn as a teacher--a visual aid is important," Jory said.

Heather A. Harding, another GSE student, later joined her to lead the informal information chat.

The two discussed their experiences teaching in the Bronx and rural North Carolina respectively and gave a brief sketch of how TFA works.

After an intensive, five-week training program over the summer, TFA places its 1,000-member-strong Corps into under-resourced schools in 13 different locations, from Washington, D.C. and Houston to rural Louisiana.

"It's like a boot camp course," Jory says. "Does is prepare you to enter a classroom in the fall? Not really. But nothing really can."

Members of the Corps teach all grade levels and a broad spectrum of subjects, so no two members' experiences are alike.

And although the power suits and slicked hair are noticeably absent, those who apply for the two-year commitment will find that competition for the Corps is fierce.

The Harvard Connection

Harvard ranks 12th on the list for most graduates currently in the program, but the school's strong TFA connection means more than just high numbers of applicants.

The Kennedy School has set up an alliance with TFA so students accepted to both are granted a two-year deferral.

In June, Katie A. Malachuk '96 assumed the position of TFA Director of Admissions and Assignment, which puts her in charge of sifting through the 4,000 applications TFA receives every year for just 1,000 spaces.

Her decision to take the job is emblematic of the way many TFA graduates have changed career plans because of their time in the Corps.

Malachuk directed CityStep while attending Harvard, and thought TFA would be a great way to extend that interest before heading to law school.

"I went to law school for a semester and I missed working for education," she said.

So she dropped out in order to get back to work for TFA, although this time she is in their administrative ranks.

Reviewing her time with TFA, Malachuk says the Corps is especially meaningful for recent Harvard graduates.

"In many ways, going to Harvard can be a huge responsibility--it's important to think about the education you've had here," Malachuk says.

As privileged students, Harvard alums should give back, she adds, and TFA provides a way to do just that.

At the Head of the Class

Teaching third graders in Oakland, Calif. for two years, Malachuk discovered a great deal about the U.S.

"It's two years to really learn about the education system," Malachuk said.

And the education goes two ways in TFA classrooms.

"I definitely learned more than I learned in college," she says. "They are so wise at that age."

Malachuk says her favorite memory comes from her second year of teaching.

From the beginning of the first day of class for her third grade until she dismissed them for the day, all Malachuk could think about was how much she missed her old students.

"I had just sent my class out the door when all of a sudden I heard this thunderous roar," Malachuk says.

The noise was the sound of the new fourth graders racing down the hall to tell her about their day.

"We talked about it and that continued all year--fourth grade tutorial," Malachuk adds.

The bonds she formed with her students during those two years are so strong that she still keeps in touch through letters.

But even Malachuk, who loves the program so much she refuses to leave, notes that it can be hard on the Corps members.

Among her friends from school, "no one I talked to had [the challenges] I was facing, but no one had the rewards," Malachuk said. "I feel so lucky that I was a part of that."

The hardship has put the rest of Malachuk's life into perspective.

"Law school was a breeze after teaching elementary school," she said.

Malachuk says the work paid off because of everything she accomplished during her time as a teacher.

"I taught 50 people to read. It doesn't get any better than that," Malachuk says.

Malachuk may still be at work for TFA, but she remains nostalgic for her days in the classroom.

"One thing I miss is the laughing all day long," Malachuk says.

Some Corps members become so attached to the teaching that they never leave the field.

Rachel Garlin '96, one of Malachuk's best friends, also joined the program after college and taught third grade in Phoenix.

"The kids aren't aware that you're 22 and you're as nervous as they are," Garlin says.

Garlin found herself so passionate about teaching that she decided to keep it up.

Instead of heading to a professional school, as she had originally planned when she entered Harvard, she started teaching eighth grade English in Berkeley, Calif.

In the Trenches

Ariel S. Frey '99 began her two-year stint in Baltimore Aug. 30 teaching third grade at the Thomas G. Hayes Elementary school.

It has been hard on Frey so far, but she is hanging in there.

"It's been extremely difficult because right now I have to concentrate on behavior problems," she says. "As an inexperienced teacher it's hard to quell."

Kids talk in class and refuse to focus, while Frey is stuck with a curriculum that assumes all of her students can read.

She admits the circumstances are more frustrating than she imagined.

"People go in with a rosy picture of it, but they tend to forget that you're dealing with a very real situation," Frey says. "You are it and you are it for the whole year."

Still, Frey has had golden teaching moments.

"It's great when you're doing a lesson. Just seeing the looks on their faces and how they run up to you," she says. "That's when I say, 'Okay, this is why I'm here.'"

Frey says it has been difficult to express the difficulty of her work to her friends, who are scattered about in post-graduate education or in the work force.

"When you're a teacher, you have to be on all of the time," she says.

Hard Knock Life

At the information session, students asked about one of the most pressing issues on graduating seniors' minds--money.

Individual school districts pay each teacher on average $25,000 to $30,000, and many say that salary is enough to live on.

"You're only 24, you don't really need it," Malachuk says.

But others have run into more difficulty with the money issue.

Jory ended up getting caught in New York bureaucracy and had to wait almost three months before getting her first paycheck.

And TFA teachers often have much greater difficulties than low bank balances.

Harding says other teachers sometimes resent the TFA Corps.

"One school had a TFA backlash," Harding says. The message she got was, "If you're only here for two years why invest a lot of time into you?"

Regional differences can also affect the new teachers. TFA placed Harding in a school with a segregated homecoming court for the black and white students.

The Road Less Traveled

Seniors at the information session were weighing the pros and cons of the two-year commitment.

"I'm not ready to go to graduate school and this seems like a way to help people, " said Thomas K. Sylvester '00. "This is the thing I really wanted to do, but I've heard negative things too, like people in over their heads."

Jessie M. Amberg '00, who is also a Crimson editor, said she is unsure of her plans but is interested in doing some teaching next year.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do. This is an alternative to i-banking," Amberg said. "It places you in schools where there is a lot of need."

No matter what people want to do with their future, TFA can fit in, according to Eastern Recruitment Director Alison Rogovin.

"I would say the program is a great option for students looking to assume a leadership role right after they graduate," Rogovin says. "They leave Harvard with this great energy and they use this to focus that," she says.

And as for people who think they will miss out on the gourmet sushi served up at business oriented jobs, Rogovin says, never fear.

"The consulting thing will always be waiting for them," she says.

For people worried about their future opportunities after TFA, the program's graduates have successfully gone on to a variety of careers and fields.

"It distinguishes you from other people," Malachuk says.

Malachuk said that when her friends and she applied to graduate schools, interviewers were more interested in their TFA experience than their Harvard past.

"You're still young enough to make a difference," Malachuk said. "I think everyone should do it. It changed my life."

TFA will have representatives at Harvard's career fair on Oct. 15, held at the Gordon Track and Tennis Center.