Bowdoin has seen a considerable rise this fall in the number of seniors applying to the Teach for America (TFA) program, which places graduates in low-income communities to teach in local schools for two years.
By the November 2 second-round deadline, nine Bowdoin students had applied for the program. Though there are still two application rounds remaining, the figure represents a 33 percent increase from last year's number of second-round applicants.
"The trend has been slowly but steadily increasing over the past three years," said TFA Recruitment Director Dan Seifert, a 2005 Colby graduate who served in TFA's South Dakota corps. "We are hoping to see significant growth this year. Our goal is to make offers to 10 members of the Class of 2008."
Nationally, the TFA acceptance rate is 19 percent. However, roughly 40 percent of Bowdoin applicants are accepted to the program during an average year.
Of the six Bowdoin students who applied by the first-round, September 21 deadline, four have already been given teaching offers, Seifert said.
Keil McQueen '08 found out last week that he was accepted into the program.
"I have always believed in the mission of Teach For America, in their attempt to try and close the achievement gap and offer all children...a high-quality education," McQueen said.
McQueen decided to apply because he felt "compelled to offer what [he has] learned to children...who simply don't have access to the education a lot of us have been fortunate to experience."
"Growing up, I never knew schools existed where the doors were chained and bars were placed over the windows, or how teachers lacked the necessary resources to be able to effectively teach their students," he said.
Aubrey Sharman '06 is finishing up her second year of TFA service. Since graduating from Bowdoin, she has been teaching high school English in the South Side of Chicago.
Sharman decided to apply to TFA because of her experience tutoring and working with students in Brunswick through community service programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Falcon Friends. It was there that she "saw first hand the inequities that existed in low-income school districts."
"Teach for America receives a lot of criticism for low teacher retention rates in schools," Sharman said. "However what many don't understand is that this is because corps members are teaching in some of the toughest and most undesirable schools in the country."
"On some days, teaching feels like an uphill battle," she added.
Sharman plans on continuing her education studies after the program, hoping to attend graduate school in education.
Roughly 60 percent of TFA alumni stay in the field of education, according to Seifert, while 40 percent go into other fields, with law, business, medicine, public policy, and government topping the list.
"Teach For America has done an incredible job of partnering with some of the top business, law, medical and policy schools in the country," McQueen said, "and if admitted to these schools [they] will offer scholarships and other monetary packages to alumni of Teach For America."
Sharman feels that her experience teaching in Chicago has shaped her outlook on education.
"Having seen and experienced all that I have, it would be hard to walk away from TFA and not feel committed to improving education for less privileged students," she said.