Giving back to my community has been a major part of who I am and working with students has always given me joy. As an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow, I am given the chance to not only do a service for others, but also work with inner city youth. In my day-to-day, I get the opportunity to interact and build positive relationships with my students.
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During college, I had various opportunities to mentor students as a side activity from my academics. From coaching middle school students in rowing to working with high school students in math, or supporting college first-years in their student jobs, mentoring was a natural activity I didn’t realize it at the time. Once I did, after graduating school, I wanted to continue! I found that Citizen Schools had a great balance of mentoring students through activities and building academic skills.
Read MoreYou’ve got to be pretty confident to call your event a WOW!, let alone a SUPER WOW! But the Citizen Schools kids and teachers who put on the Super WOW! at The Frontier in Research Triangle Park on Jan. 19 had every reason to believe their work earned the title.
Citizen Schools is one of several organizations that US2020 partners with to provide science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring for kids in Wake and Durham schools. Citizen Schools is a national program with five North Carolina school locations — three in Durham and two in Charlotte — that offer extended-day learning programs for at-risk middle school kids. Students from the Durham schools — Lowe’s Grove, Githens, and Neal middle schools — hosted the Super WOW! event to showcase their work from the 10-week afterschool courses they participated in during the fall semester.
Read MoreMy decision to become an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow was driven by a desire to serve in a tangible way. As a student at Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, I was an observer, and indeed, a participant in the segregation between the predominantly white and affluent suburb I resided in, and the economically disadvantaged and minority communities within Chicago.
Read MoreI found out about the Fellowship through my older brother, who served as both a TA and TF with Citizen Schools for 3 years in Chelsea and Dorchester. My first experience working in education came in my senior year of college at UMass Amherst, where I interned at the Amherst Middle School as part of my practicum.
Read MoreI decided to become an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow because I wanted to impact students by providing them with the tools that they need to succeed academically. During my primary education, I did not have the privilege of having a person to ensure that I was obtaining all the skills that I needed to flourish in my academics. I come from a family where my parents worked long hours, are not articulate English speakers, and therefore, was unable to support me with my academics.
Read MoreI decided to become an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow because of my passion for teaching. Before I enter the classroom fully I wanted to give back to my community. I chose to do service so that I can know what is needed and required in the classroom. Joining Citizen Schools was one of the best decisions I have made because although I have tough days, I know that I am becoming a better teacher in the process.
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