Teach For America Letter of Intent

“Every day, at every turn, I see something, something that stares me straight in the eye, that intimidates me, and belittles me to the point where I feel too inadequate to approach it. It’s nothing new, and other’s acceptance of it shakes my idea that it doesn’t belong. I can’t stop thinking about it as I wait for someone to pull around the bandwagon so I can jump on it. I put my hands in my pocket while I pass the time. My fingers jingle the keys to the bandwagon.”

I wrote the above passage when I decided to film a solo documentary in Peru. Being a young woman in a foreign place did not empower me to spread awareness about child labor, but being a human did. I discovered the power I possess to make a difference in a place where change is unwelcome. Walking alone through the poorest parts of Lima, through streets that weren’t streets, dark paths in the sand covered in filth and occupied by disease-stricken dogs, was the most enlightened yet unsettled I have ever felt.

            Socioeconomic injustice isn’t confined to the developing world. As I drive through impoverished parts of Tuscaloosa, in route to my comfortable sorority home, a new light has been cast for me – injustice has taken shelter in the education system in my own backyard. Teach For America’s mission is not one I can allow myself to watch unfold and sit idly by; I have to be a part of it. As Vice President of my sorority, I helped initiate the Champions Are Readers program for third graders at Holt Elementary in Tuscaloosa. Working with these students taught me how a small amount of attention develops a crucial difference. Today’s children will soon be members of our society. We can shape the kind of members they will become through effective education.

While improving test scores is a reasonable short-term goal, my hopeful accomplishment is something longer lasting. I believe in increasing my students’ self-awareness by showing them that they are intelligent, competent, and headed towards success. My goal is to liberate students from the conceptions created and sustained by the education system’s repetitive cycle. My students will know the doors the world holds open for them, as I show them how to use their talents to break any glass ceiling they’ve been living under. When my students have the confidence necessary to compete against others who come from the “right side of the tracks,” I will consider that a victory. Success begins with raised confidence which results in raised test scores.

Teach For America is not a two-year commitment, it is a life-long attitude. Every day, at every turn, I see solvable problems. Throughout my life I will confront them, hopefully first through Teach For America, and ultimately with my camera in hand.  My allegiance to Teach For America’s mission won’t end after two years but instead will be internalized as fuel for my next project, and each one that follows.