Selective Teach for America program seeks applicants

When 8-year-old Dirronnique entered Pitt alumna Ami Magunia’s third grade classroom last… When 8-year-old Dirronnique entered Pitt alumna Ami Magunia’s third grade classroom last year, she could neither read nor write. In fact, Dirronnique — who had lived in four cities before being abandoned by her mother somewhere between the West Coast and Baltimore, her current home — did not even know what a sentence was.

Such difficulties are common in Magunia’s school district, where 70 percent of all black men drop out before graduating high school.

Since glaring lapses in low-income school districts occur nationwide, Magunia, along with 10,000 other recent college graduates, pledged two years of her life to teaching in a low-income school district in one of 20 rural or urban regions across America. She participates in the Teach for America program.

Magunia, who is teaching her second year in a Baltimore grade school, visited Pitt’s campus and described her experience in a presentation Monday evening in the William Pitt Union.

“It is a defining moment,” Magunia said. “It affects your views on politics, law, media — everything.”

Operating since 1990, Teach for America is a non-profit organization that provides recent college graduates with the opportunity to teach in low-income communities for a two-year period. Desired applicants are not generally education majors; rather, the organization selects students with top academic standings and proven leadership skills, then trains them in an intensive summer program before assigning them a school.

A participant continues to attend classes while teaching and eventually receives certification within the state in which he taught.

In exchange for their commitment, participants in the program receive the same base salary and benefits as other starting teachers — a salary determined and paid for by the individual school districts. Teachers can also defer qualifying student loans for the two-year period, and Teach for America pays for interest accumulated on Federal loans during that period.

Magunia said that many top graduate schools also offer additional loan deferment for participants who wish to continue their schooling after their terms are complete.

Several large private businesses, including Morgan Stanley, actively encourage hiring Teach for America participants because of the communication, strategy planning and resource management skills they have gained, Magunia added.

But the true gains are intangible, according to Magunia. During her presentation, she and two alumni of the program, Beth Calcaterra and Arthur Wolfson, described the impact the program had on their lives. Calcaterra described how the experience led her to her current occupation as an attorney for Kids Voice, a non-profit organization providing legal support for children of low-income families in Allegheny County. She found that Teach for America gave her the “chance to affect systemic change for kids with special needs.”

All speakers Monday night warned that the task is challenging. Out of about 75 applicants in the two years that Pitt has been involved in recruitment, only about two have been accepted each year, according to Nancy Reddy, the Pitt coordinator for Teach for America. The program seeks proven student leaders from student organizations, private jobs or volunteer work, as well as motivated and challenge-oriented individuals. Although the base QPA requirement is a 2.5, the national average is closer to 3.5.

But the difficult nature of the work and the competition for positions did not discourage the roomful of interested students at Monday’s presentation. The presenters impressed Amy Focht, a senior anthropology and psychology major.

“I really want to get involved with improving the education system,” Focht said.

As for Dirronnique, the third grader in Magunia’s class, Magunia gained her confidence and built trust. She was then able to devote time before school, during lunch and after school to practice phonics. At home, Magunia recommended Hooked on Phonics to Dirronnique’s aunt and uncle, her guardians, and she said she eventually saw progress.

Once Dirronnique moved on to the fourth grade, Magunia was unsure that all Dirronnique had learned would remain with her — until the girl walked past Magunia’s classroom this year and mentioned that she enjoyed the stories posted on the classroom walls.

“That means she can read,” Magunia said.

To her, that spells success.