Alumni help recruit for Teach For America

Some 30 current Grand Valley students gathered in Kirkhof Center Monday to hear from two GVSU alumni who are working to close the education achievement gap through Teach for America.

The meeting was intended to give potential Teach For America recruits information about the program. Teach For America recruits exceptional recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity.

Rob Daigneau and Alan Dunklow, both 2007 graduates, are finishing their second year as teachers working in disadvantaged school districts. Daigneau is teaching eighth grade in the Mississippi Delta and calls Teach For America “by far the most fulfilling thing I’ve done in my entire life.”

Daigneau described the challenges he faces in his school — students reading far below grade level, long hours, lots of stress. But he also described getting thank you letters from students and parents. And he noted that some of his students entered his class reading at a fifth grade level and left reading at the seventh grade level, accomplishing two years of work in one school year.

“All the long nights, all the lack of sleep, it makes it all worthwhile,” he said.

Dunklow, who plans to go to law school, said he would like to work on education policy in the future, thanks to the work he has done in Teach for America. “I never really had an issue, but now I do,” he said.

Today, more than 5,000 Teach For America corps members work in 26 urban and rural areas affected by the achievement gap. There are currently seven Grand Valley alumni in the program and five others have completed work for Teach For America. Teach For America recruiter Emily Kraft said Grand Valley is an important institution for the program.

“Grand Valley really stands out to me, compared to all the other schools in Michigan,” Kraft said. “The university doesn’t just put people in a bubble and allow them to see the world that way. Grand Valley really exposes its students to issues in their own community and creates and awareness of inequity in the United States.”

The application deadline is November 7. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org . Daigneau and Dunklow were profiled in a Grand Valley Magazine story, which is online here .