Students Teach for America

The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by the talented student journalists at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman or the Hard News Café, or both, for inclusion in Utah State Today.

 

By Candice Sandness in The Utah Statesman Friday, April 24, 2009

 

Educational inequity is the nation’s greatest injustice, said Katrina Galbraith. One of her goals is to eliminate this injustice.

 

Galbraith, who graduated from Utah State [University] in December with a human resources and economics degree, was one of three accepted undergrad students who were chosen by Teach for America (TFA) to commit themselves for two years as teachers in the U.S.’s highest poverty communities.

 

Walt Nate Eiman, senior in anthropology and Spanish, was selected to teach in Indianapolis, Ind., and biology major Elisabeth Mussler was selected to teach in Native American reservations in New Mexico.

 

Galbraith said she never thought she’d be a teacher, and now she finds herself departing from Utah June 4 to teach elementary aged children from Pre-K to fourth grade. She’ll teach in high Spanish-speaking populations in Houston, Texas, for two years.

 

“It’s more than just teaching (that I’m doing), I’m changing the outcome of their life,” Galbraith said. “I can’t think of anything more that I would want to be doing at this point in my life.”

 

Low socio-economic areas with already poor education systems keep these kids in a “trapped cycle” of not graduating high school and creates the idea of college being impossible, Gabraith said.

 

“The reality is (these kids) can make all the difference in their lives and the future can be better,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much their family has or what their skin color is; they can still change their future.”

 

Many children are already raised in high-poverty and high crime rate areas with odds already against them, she said.

 

“As a nation we have a responsibility to these children,” Galbraith said. “I get angry because these kids start with less and then they are put into public schools that also give them less. It’s not fair and it’s not right.”

 

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates and professionals of all academic majors and career interests who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity, according to TFA’s Web site.

 

“I think people think that it’s just a career but (Teach for America) is really a movement to change the nation,” Galbraith said.

 

Galbraith said she is looking forward to the commitment of working with kids and seeing the growth that comes from teaching them.

 

“I’m excited to see them become passionate about their own education,” she said.

 

Galbraith was an undergraduate teaching fellow for the class MHR 4890 and was also a USU SI instructor for sociology 1010, where she had her first teaching exposure.

 

“That was when I discovered I loved teaching,” she said.

 

That passion carried Galbraith into furthering her education after her two-year commitment with TFA: she plans to obtain her master’s in education.

 

Galbraith said her future plan is to run her own non-profit organization, much similar to an organization like TFA, but in South America.

 

In many circumstances throughout South America, orphans are kicked out of orphanages because of overcrowding and shortage of staff to take care of the children, she said. Many are forced out without any education or job skills at ages 14 to 18, which is what Galbraith said she wants to change.

 

“My goal is to have these kids start a life for themselves because the reality is many end up on the streets, which I don’t want to continue happening,” she said.

 

Anyone who wants to make a difference in someone’s life and anyone who is passionate about education should apply, Galbraith said.

 

Undergrads who are accepted into the program start at the same salary as beginning teachers, ranging from $27,000 to $50,000 a year, depending on the cost of living and the district they are teaching in, said Andrea Valley, USU recruiter director for Teach for America.

 

TFA doesn’t just look for education majors, they look for a diversified range.

 

Sixty-six percent of TFA alumni stay in a career in education, while the other 44 percent go into either law school, medical school or business school, Valley said.