Program trains teachers

About 100 students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, took time out of their schedules -- and came in out of the rain -- to learn more about the Teach for America program Wednesday night in Jordan Hall.\nThe two-year program provides recent graduates the opportunity to teach in underprivileged areas of a variety of cities, from the Mississippi Delta to Los Angeles, Cal. It benefits children in low-income neighborhoods. Teach for America, an Americorps organization, began about 12 years ago.\nCarla Seeger, the alumni recruiter for the program and a master's student in public affairs, said the program recruits a diverse core of seniors that can fill the void of teachers needed in underprivileged areas.\n"We get a large number of applications every year from this campus," she said. "There is a large recruitment effort here."\nSeeger attended the University of Miami for her undergraduate degree and then joined Teach for America. She spent two years teaching middle and high school math in Los Angeles.\nJunior Lindsay Schoenfeld is the campus coordinator for Teach for America. Her main responsibility is to recruit IU seniors for the program.\n"It's a wonderful leadership opportunity," she said. "We recruit talented, diverse seniors that are well-rounded."\nWhile it is very selective, and the interviewers look mainly for students with a grade point average of 3.5 or above, students with a lower G.P.A. can be considered. There are two deadlines, Oct. 30 and Feb. 21. This gives students unsure about their plans in December a chance to apply for the program.\n"We want people who are altruistic and who can face challenges," Schoenfeld said. "We want people who won't just give up on these students."\nThe program is intense. If chosen, students participate in a five-week training program the summer after college graduation. They work with people who have participated in the program before, and are usually in between their first and second year of teaching in the program. The training takes place in either Houston or New York.\nSeeger said there are many misconceptions about Teach for America. The first is that you have to be an education major to participate. This is not the case -- the program looks for people in all fields. Secondly, many people think it's a volunteer program. It's a salaried position. Students will have $9,400 at the end of two years, and if they have student loans from college, the government will pay any interest that has accrued over that time.\nMany people worry that the children in the underprivileged schools will be harder to handle than children in other areas, Seeger said. But they're not.\n"We're defending the students we go to teach," she said.\nSenior Sunita Agtey attended the information session Wednesday. She said the speakers were very informative and were honest about the challenges they faced in their teaching experiences.\n"It just sounded really interesting, and a really good opportunity to go to a different place," she said.\nTeach for America's motto is: "One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to obtain an excellent education." All of Teach for America's goals are centered around that motto.\n"Yes, there are perks," Schoenfeld said. "But this program is about eliminating the achievement gap in our country."\nChildren growing up in low-income communities are seven times less likely to graduate from college than other children, Schoenfeld said. With a program like Teach for America, hopefully more children will have the opportunity to obtain a higher education.