Top Contributor
“I try to incorporate global elements into my instruction,” says Alex Toole ’14, a Teach for America corps member in one of Baltimore’s K-6 schools.
by Alejandro Heredia '16
For the second time, Dickinson is one of the top schools in the nation for contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to Teach for America (TFA). Dickinson is among the top 20 colleges and universities in the small-schools category, with 10 members of the class of 2014 joining the TFA corps.
TFA corps members are top college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational opportunity for all students. The organization recruits seniors and graduates from all academic majors and backgrounds who have demonstrated achievement, perseverance and leadership.
Alex Toole ’14, who graduated with degrees in political science and French, is a new TFA corps member in a Baltimore elementary school. “Teaching is unlike anything I have ever done,” says Toole, a leader on campus with the Liberty Cap Society, Student Senate, The Octals and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues. In addition, Toole interned with U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine. “As an educator, I strive to live up to my own Dickinson experience and make my classroom as engaging as possible."
Throughout Teach for America’s 25-year history, 73 Dickinson alumni have taught as corps members. They join nearly 37,000 TFA alumni who work across all sectors to expand educational opportunity. Nearly 90 percent of alumni work in education or low-income communities. About 30 percent of TFA alumni are P-12 teachers, and one-third are working in other educational roles, including principals, deans and superintendents. This year, 50 percent of TFA educators identify as people of color, compared with less than 20 percent of all teachers nationwide.
Learn more
Published October 9, 2014