(AAPNW-KY) – Last spring, Teach for America selected 27 recent graduates of the University of Kentucky to serve in America’s inner cities and rural communities. The UK group, the largest in school history, is among 5,800 new corps members selected for Teach for America, a national program in which outstanding college graduates commit to teach for two years in disadvantaged urban and rural public schools.
Teach for America places its recruits in the nation’s highest-need elementary and secondary schools in many of the country’s lowest income communities, both rural and urban, in an effort to close the achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged children.
This year’s corps is the largest in Teach for America’s history. During this school year, more than 10,000 first- and second-year corps members will reach students in 46 regions across 36 states and the District of Columbia.
Of the 27 recent UK graduates selected to serve Teach for America, the following 23 have accepted teaching positions with the program:
Michael Baird, of Corbin, Kentucky, a theatre graduate who will serve in St. Louis, Missouri; Lindsay Baranowski, of Prospect, Kentucky, a music performance and Spanish graduate who will serve in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Shannon Bauer of Louisville, Kentucky, a history and English graduate who will serve in Indianapolis, Indiana; Justin Buren of Louisville, Kentucky, a political science graduate who will serve in Houston, Texas; Jennifer Chadwick of Louisville, Kentucky, an architecture graduate who will serve in Houston, Texas; Molly Coon of Indianapolis, Indiana, an architecture graduate who will serve in the Delta; Kari Cornett of Pineville, Kentucky, an English graduate who will serve in Appalachia.
Lesley Cornett of Whitesburg, Kentucky, a secondary English education graduate who will serve in Alabama; Anna Davis of Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, a psychology graduate who will serve in Indianapolis, Indiana; Megan Day of Granger, Indiana, a family sciences graduate who will serve in Alabama; Erin Fehrenbach of Lexington, Kentucky, a biology graduate who will serve in Dallas, Texas; Jenna Goblirsch of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a kinesiology graduate who will serve in Chicago, Illinois; Bruce Herring of Louisville, Kentucky, a sociology graduate who will serve in Atlanta, Georgia; Lauren Ison of Greenup, Kentucky, a chemistry graduate who will serve in Houston, Texas; Angel Jackson of Radcliff, Kentucky, an English and history graduate who will serve in Indianapolis, Indiana; Brooke McCloud of Bowling Green, Kentucky, a journalism graduate who will serve in Nashville, Tennessee; Allison McVey of Cynthiana, Kentucky, a history and international studies graduate who will serve in Nashville, Tennessee.
Eleni Minor of Lexington, Kentucky, an economics graduate who will serve in southwest Ohio; Brian Pierce of Mt. Washington, Kentucky, an architecture graduate who will serve in South Carolina; Josh Ridgeway of Winchester, Kentucky, a social work graduate who will serve in Indianapolis, Indiana; Lindsey Smith of Monticello, Kentucky, a secondary English education graduate who will serve in Alabama; Clay Stanley of Louisville, Kentucky, a kinesiology graduate who will serve in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Austin Wilson of Louisville, Kentucky, a mathematics graduate who will serve in Oklahoma.
The 2012 class of Teach for America recruits is up two corps members from previous groups selected to serve from UK.
Teach for America recruits represent a full range of academic majors, including math, science and education; some with work experience from a variety of career sectors including finance, technology, military and nonprofit. Twenty-three percent are the first in their family to graduate from college, 35 percent received Pell Grants and 23 percent are graduate students or professionals.
Teach for America participants receive a first-year teacher’s salary and are awarded an AmeriCorps education grant up to $11,100 (dependent on federal appropriations). The award can be applied to student loans or the pursuit of further education.
Students interested in applying for the Teach for America program in the upcoming year should contact OJ Oleka at onyejindu.oleka@teachforamerica.org.
By Whitney Hale, University of Kentucky Media Relations