LaToya Marcus, a 2004 Elon graduate who teaches high school English in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, held an information session Friday, Feb. 3 for Elon students interested in the Teach For America program. Marcus is in her second year with the program, which places teachers in low-income communities throughout the country.
“Teach For America calls on its teachers to go above and beyond the call of normal duty,” said Marcus, a communications and Spanish double-major at Elon. She said teachers in the program work hard to overcome obstacles unheard of in more affluent schools.
“Our school did not have an English literature curriculum when I arrived,” Marcus said. “Another teacher and I wrote the 10th grade curriculum last summer. The gratifying thing was that even with those obstacles, we were still able to see success in our students.”
Teach For America asks participants for a two-year commitment to teach in schools populated primarily by minority or low-income students. More than 14,000 teachers take part in the program, working in 22 different urban and rural locations.