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2002 WHS graduate instructs inner city students
as part of Teach for America program
Special to The Mountain Times
Hannah Whitaker, a 2002 graduate of Watauga High School and a
member of the Fleetwood community in
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Former Watauga High student Hannah
Whitaker will spend the next two years teaching kids in
the Bronx as part of the Teach for America program.
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Ashe County, has joined Teach for America. Teach for America is
the national corps of top college graduates who commit two years
to teach in under-resourced public schools, becoming lifelong
advocates for educational excellence and equity. Whitaker, who
recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from N.C. State University
with a degree in Art and Design and a minor in Spanish, is teaching
a first grade class of English Language Learners in the Bronx
in New York City.
Teach for America is a competitive program that builds a corps
of our nation’s most promising future leaders. TFA aggressively
recruits the highest performing students from colleges and asks
them to dedicate two intense years to the mission that one day
all children in this nation will attain an excellent education.
Of the 19,000 students who applied last year, less than 20% were
accepted to this rigorous and demanding program. Teach for America
has been called the educational domestic Peace Corps.
Hannah attended N.C. State University as a Park Scholar. She was
a member of several academic organizations including Phi Beta
Kappa. She studied abroad in Italy and Ecuador, was president
of the NCSU Cycling Club, was a nationally-ranked cyclist, provided
volunteer service through Ecotrackers in Ecuador and through Lutheran
Family Services teaching Sudanese and Montagnard refugees, and
she tutored students at Broughton High School in Raleigh. During
her two-year commitment to Teach for America, Hannah will also
be pursuing a Masters degree in teaching English as a second language.
In response to the question, “And how is your experience
with TFA thus far?” Hannah said, “This is the most difficult
and demanding thing I have ever done, but if, at the end of the
year, all of my students are on grade level, then that will be
the most rewarding accomplishment of my entire life.”
For more information about Teach for America, visit their website:
www.teachforamerica.org. |
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