Alumna Amy Dean Hopes to Recruit Students for Teach for America

January 19, 2006

In 1997, Amy Dean attended Penn State with the intentions of becoming an engineer. "I found that I wanted to learn about a lot of things that weren't part of the structured engineering curriculum," says Amy, "and transferred to the Department of Geography at the beginning of my junior year." Here, Amy pursued a bachelor's of science degree in geography with the urban and regional option. She completed her thesis using research she did as part of the Philadelphia Project with Dr. Yapa.

As her college career came to a close, Amy searched for ways to work with impoverished communities. "I was considering pursuing a career in research eventually, but wanted to have experiences outside of a university first," she explains. That is why Amy was interested in Teach for America. "Teach for America presented itself as a way to throw myself into living and working in a community where a lot of difficult issues that I knew mostly in theory formed a community's reality," she says. "Through Teach for America, I knew that I would also have training and a network that would provide support and inspiration. I thought I would be better able to accomplish goals in that context."

Teach for America corps members are employed directly by local school districts that partner with the organization in twenty-two different regions of the US. For two years, Amy taught high school Spanish at Southern Vance High School in rural Henderson, NC. Although there were up to five other corps members working at her school, she was independently responsible for her classes, similar to other public school teachers. "I taught three classes each semester, which included planning and executing curriculum, attempting to inspire and counsel students, and working to remediate students whose academic skills weren't on grade level." She was also involved with projects outside of her classroom, as well as advised the Key Club, a student service organization.

Looking back on her experiences, Amy learned more about her strengths and weaknesses. "Because of necessity and inspiration from other corps members, I learned how to teach effectively in fast forward," she says. "I had my own classroom five weeks after I started training. I learned how to make do with limited resources and maintain momentum in my class even through exhaustion and resistance from my students." She also admits that she learned how to better work with a diverse group of people. "I learned a lot about working with all kinds of people, who were often resistant to working with me. I was an outsider in a place where outsiders are not common, and had to learn how to navigate cultural norms and expectations that were different than my own."

Because of Amy's rewarding, yet challenging experience with Teach for America, she encourages other students to consider the program after graduation. "It is difficult to find a job as a recent college graduate that offers an opportunity to experience other people and cultural groups, lead, make decisions, carry responsibility, be creative, inspire others, and make a difference in a way that teaching in a struggling school does," she explains. "What sets teaching as a Teach for America corps member apart from tackling the challenge as an individual is that you are a part of a movement. Collaboration with other corps members can be inspirational and give you perspective." Amy also mentions that there are more opportunities for professional development as a Teach for America teacher than other beginning teachers. "As a geography graduate, I had a better idea of why the community where I lived was struggling, as well as the opportunity to test my ideas about policy, social institutions, and American culture against an American community where the results of economic, education, and other policies are generally not something to celebrate."

Now Amy is a graduate student, studying public health nutrition, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "Poor nutrition is the source of a variety of problems in Henderson, from poor academic performance to premature onset of chronic disease," she says. "It is also the result of many other problems, from teenage parenthood to lack of money to buy fresh produce." At Southern Vance High School, Amy became interested in these dynamics and started to think about how changes could be made to improve the nutrition status on a population and individual scale.

After graduate school, Amy is thinking about working with a movement aimed at establishing gardens and kitchens within schools, in an effort to re-center the curriculum around the food cycle. She is also considering joining a pediatric practice as a clinical dietician and consulting schools and sports teams. Eventually, she would like to return to the university setting or get involved with advocacy and policy work. But for now, "I have a lot of coursework and practicum to complete before I figure out what the best way to match my abilities to my goals."

Learn how Teach For America corps members changed the lives of their students at a free screening of a CNN documentary on Teach for America:
Thursday, January 19
7:00 p.m.
104 Thomas Building
Food will be served.

Also, Amy Dean will be available to meet with geography students on Monday, January 23 on campus to discuss the Teach for America experience and application process. If you are interested, please contact Amy via e-mail at abdean@email.unc.edu.