Teach for America recruits on campus

Graduate student Carla Seeger will always remember making a difference in the life of Jonathan Marroquin, one of her former students.\n"He would shout that he couldn't learn math and didn't want to," she said. "It was a rocky year, but by the end he was coming after school for tutoring, and he thanked me for what I had done. To have a 13-year-old boy thank you for teaching him math is very inspirational, and it told me that I was doing something right in the classroom."\nSeeger, a graduate student in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, spent three years teaching middle and high school mathematics in South Central Los Angeles through Teach for America, an AmeriCorps program that employs recent college graduates as teachers in underprivileged communities for a minimum of two years.\nShe currently serves as a TFA alumni recruiter at IU and will help host an information session for prospective applicants at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 in Morrison Hall 007. Seeger said graduating seniors from all backgrounds are eligible to apply.\n"We have applicants from a diverse set of majors," she said.\nShe explained that after participants are accepted into TFA, they must attend a five-week summer training institute in either New York City or Houston, and can choose from 16 job placements. When new teachers arrive at their assigned schools, they are supervised by program directors and experienced teachers who serve as mentors. \n"There's a very good support network in place for the teachers," Seeger said.\nParticipants also receive salaries and benefits from their respective school districts, as well as a $4,725 annual stipend from AmeriCorps. \nAfter completing her teaching tenure under TFA in Los Angeles, Seeger came to IU on a SPEA fellowship that waived some requirements and paid for six credits of her tuition. SPEA began awarding fellowships to TFA teachers in 2000 after entering into a partnership with the organization.\nCurrently, 19 seniors from the IU graduating class of 2002 have been accepted into TFA, and Seeger hopes more will apply before the Feb. 21 deadline.\n"Experienced teachers are drawn away from these areas because of the lack of books and other resources," she said. "These kids need teachers, and you can make a real difference in two years."\nAnother AmeriCorps group, the Inner-City Teaching Corps, is also hunting for graduating seniors to serve as two-year teachers in parochial schools on the West and South sides of Chicago. \nRecruiting Coordinator Maite Urriola, a graduate student, said two graduating seniors from IU have already applied, and all seniors are encouraged to apply. But because Monday was the application deadline, anyone interested in doing so must contact her at (773) 265-7240 no later than Friday.\n"We look for people with high levels of energy and commitment to service, education and leadership," she said. \nUrriola said participants undergo eight weeks of training before they begin to teach and attend bimonthly seminars in addition to their classroom duties. In addition, ICTC teachers live together in religious communities and receive transportation, medical insurance and a monthly stipend of $150. She said core members leave the program with a teaching certification from the State of Illinois and 22 credits toward a master's degree at Northwestern University. \n"My teaching experience in the corps gave me a new way of seeing the world, and I left with a firmer grasp on what's really important," Urriola said.\nDavid Kinman, assistant dean of outreach and recruitment in the School of Education, said programs such as TFA and ICTC are beneficial stops on career paths for students who want to teach in underprivileged neighborhoods.\n"Those interested in teaching in the inner-city would find these programs interesting and appealing because they're an alternative route to getting into the schools," he said.\nFor more information about the organizations, e-mail Carla Seeger at cseeger@indiana.edu with questions concerning Teach for America, or call Maite Urriola at (773) 265-7240 with questions about the Inner-City Teaching Corps.