Spring Break
Dukies flock to 'Teach for America' program
By: Naureen Khan
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News
Last update: 2/8/07 at 8:39 AM EST
Last update: 2/8/07 at 8:39 AM EST
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Negrete, a teacher for a fourth-grade special education class at Public School 48 in the Bronx and a Teach for America corps member, said his students always know how to keep things interesting, in part due to their impressive story-telling skills.
In recent years, a rising number of Duke students have followed Negrete's path and joined the competitive TFA program. In fact, TFA is one of the largest employers of recent Duke graduates, said Abby Vargas, career specialist at the Career Center.
The non-profit organization enlists recent college graduates of all academic majors and career interests to teach at low-income public schools across the country.
Fifty-three Duke alumni are currently members of TFA, Vargas said. In addition, 32 Duke students of the Class of 2007 have committed to joining next year, said Caroline Hult, a TFA recruitment officer for Duke.
"Duke is one of the top schools [for TFA] as far as numbers go," Vargas said. "It is one of the main schools they target, as they've had success in recruiting corps members here before and many graduates have been very successful as part of the program."
Despite the high number of Duke alumni who become corps members, the process of joining TFA is selective, said Emily Del Pino, regional communications director for the organization's national office.
"It's really important for Teach for America that corps members are going to be high-achieving people," Del Pino said. "Anyone who does the program really needs to be a strong leader in front of the classroom."
Last year, 2,400 out of 19,000 total applicants were accepted to the program. Among that number, there were 26 Duke graduates out of 122 that applied.
Hult said there are two parts to the recruitment process-an aggressive advertisement campaign and a strong effort to target individuals who have demonstrated leadership ability. "We single out people... who we really believe would be an asset to the corps," she said.
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