ND Alums Teach for America

Nearly 30 members of Notre Dame’s class of 2009 committed to teach two years in urban and rural public schools across the country with the Teach for America (TFA) program, putting ND in the top 10 among institutions with enrollments between 3,000 and 9,999 undergraduates.

The program has gained a strong reputation among undergraduates, particularly at Notre Dame where at least 10 percent of graduates perform a year or more of service before entering the job market. This year’s class of applicants was the largest in TFA history – more than 35,000 applied for the 4,100 positions. Notre Dame was among the 130 colleges and universities nationwide that had more than 5 percent of the senior class apply to the program.

Though the number of ND grads participating in TFA has grown over the years, the program has long been a popular choice for Domers looking to “give back” immediately upon graduation. Roxanne Mendez Johnson ’93, now an assistant federal defender at a federal defender's office in New York, first considered TFA after listening to a presentation about the program in O’Shaughnessy Hall as a student.

“The presenter spoke of the need to fill teaching positions in under-resourced, under-funded schools throughout urban and rural areas in the United States. It was as if she was speaking directly to me,” says Mendez Johnson. “Could I provide opportunities for children who had few?”

The answer turned out to be yes, she could. Mendez Johnson postponed law school to make the two-year commitment, assuring her parents that the TFA experience would make her a better lawyer. TFA’s goals are not necessarily to create more lifelong teachers, but to end educational inequality by building a massive force of leaders in all fields who have the perspective and conviction that come from teaching successfully in low-income communities.

Mendez Johnson was sent to a kindergarten classroom in Houston where she was able to put her knowledge of Spanish to use. She remembers the job as difficult, particularly for someone accustomed to success.

“The TFA experience is not for the weak or meek of heart, but for those who hear the call to serve in the classroom,” she says. Often she would stay up late researching and finding books and materials for her students. “But in the end, the efforts were well spent,” Mendez Johnson says. “My five-year-old students could read, write, add, and subtract. A full quarter of my class could multiply.”

After the TFA experience, Mendez Johnson kept her promise to her parents. She returned to law school. “While I envisioned myself as an advocate for children or a juvenile law attorney, I found my niche in federal criminal defense--largely representing adults who, as kids, were not so dissimilar to the children I taught in inner-city Houston.”

Since TFA is a part of AmeriCorps, those accepted into the program can defer most student loans until they finish, and their pay and benefits are comparable to those of other first-year teachers. TFA instructors are sent to all grade levels all across the nation.

Learn more about the Teach for America program on its official website. To read more Mendez Johnson’s experience, read her open letter to The Observer.