Classroom Connection

by Christine Baksi

September 11, 2012

“One thing that hits me on a daily basis is that these students don't realize how much better they deserve. I hope that through my work, and the work of their other teachers, we can open their eyes to that,” says Teach for America corps member Marianh Aman ’12.

In its debut on Teach for America's annual top-contributors list, Dickinson is among the top 20 schools in the nation contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to the teaching corps. Dickinson is included in the small-schools category, with 13 members of the class of 2012 joining Teach for America and 8 percent of seniors applying to the corps.

"We are grateful to the outstanding colleges and universities that cultivate graduates with the leadership skills and determination to address one of our nation's greatest injustices, the disparity in educational opportunity between children in low-income communities and their wealthier peers," says Teach for America's CEO and founder, Wendy Kopp.

Teach for America 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.

Dickinson alumna Marianh Aman '12 graduated magna cum laude with a degree in neuroscience and is a new Teach for America corps member. "I am excited and determined to meet the Teach For America charge and hope to make a difference in the lives of my students," says Aman, who teaches middle-school science in Prince George's County, Md.

Fellow 2012 graduate Fabiola Cineas also is meeting the Teach for America charge teaching 7th-grade writing at Promise Charter School in Camden, N.J. "It's uplifting to walk into my classroom each day and recognize how Camden's crime statistics have not kept my students from being open-minded about learning and enthusiastic to start each day," says Cineas. "I am faced with the reality that if I do not give my students my best, they will not learn what I

have to teach them. I do not want to set my students back." 

Throughout Teach for America's 22-year history, 45 Dickinson alumni have taught as corps members.  They join nearly 28,000 Teach for America alumni who work across all sectors to expand educational opportunity. Two-thirds are working full time in education, with one-third as classroom teachers and one-third in other roles, including principals and superintendents. A 2011 study by Harvard University and the American Enterprise Institute found that Teach for America is creating more founders and leaders of education organizations that any other organization or program.

View full list of top contributors.

[Caption: “One thing that hits me on a daily basis is that these students don't realize how much better they deserve. I hope that through my work, and the work of their other teachers, we can open their eyes to that,” says Teach for America corps member Marianh Aman ’12.]