How I became a teacher: The story of a budding social justice warrior

My Nanna was a piano teacher. My mother was a Nurse’s Aide instructor. But teaching does not run in my blood and I never had those magical moments as a kid where I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I loved school, but I was on a social justice track while studying at Penn State University and never considered teaching.

I was earning a degrees in Women’s Studies and Psychology and minoring in International Studies. I studied abroad in Maastrict, The Netherlands during my junior year. I was a trained and active domestic violence and sexual assault counselor for the local women’s shelter. I was a counselor for The Second Mile Summer Challenge Camp- a goal setting and team building camp for at-risk kids. I coordinated training for incoming freshman through the Center for Women Students. I Took Back the Night. Every spring break I went on a service trip (Boston, New Mexico) through Alternative Spring Break Club. I was a TA for Introduction to Women’s Studies the last three semesters of college. Being active, involved and helpful made my blood pump. During autumn of my senior year, I made a very conscious decision to put aside my musical endeavors so that I could concentrate on social justice issues. No more acting and dance classes. No more long tours with the choir. No more voice training. I was a change maker, a young leader in a very important fight.



My Aunt Charlotte is hugging
my cousin Charlie in this family
portrait taken when I was in HS.

 Senior year was upon me and the big question was, “Which area of social justice can bring about the most positive change?” The answer to this question would lead me to know what kind of work I would pursue after graduation. I didn’t want to be one of those academics that completed their terminal degree without having down-and-dirty real life experience. Conversations with my advisor (also the instructor who took me on as a TA) lead me to think that the field of education was probably the best place to put my social justice efforts. My thinking was if young children have positive role models who offer a safe space to explore the world they may grow up to be positive role models for their children and community. Change could actually take place in this forum. After all, I knew how important teachers were to the survival and success of students. I am who I am today because of certain teachers (Thank you Ms. Good & Ms. Tacz! And thanks to my Aunt Charlotte who taught me how to be a kid.)

I believe that “life” leads us where we need to be. One day I was walking through the always-crowded Student Union and I bumped into an acquaintance from camp. She was in the middle of an interview with Teach For America and told me a little bit about the organization. I looked into it. As the puzzle pieces of my life were whirling around my head, they seemed to fit perfectly together as I read about TFA. And on top of everything, one of the available teaching regions was in New Mexico. My previous service projects in New Mexico left me with an itch to go back and do more. It was all too perfect.

I applied to Teach For America without any doubt in my mind that it was my destiny to be a public school teacher in a rural, high needs area in the US. I desperately wanted to be a racial minority in my new community and I wanted everyday to be an adventure. After writing numerous essays, observing classrooms in public schools, teaching a lesson and going through a long series of interviews I was accepted to TFA as a 2002 Corp Member in the Gallup, New Mexico/Navajo Reservation region. Wow.

Fake meditation in the
high desert.

Another detail that I want to explain set me on a path to become a special educator and advocate for students with exceptionalities. When I was filling out my application for TFA, I was asked to check the boxes of grade levels and topics that I would feel capable of teaching. After all of the options are presented, there was one last question that basically asked if I was willing to teach special education. Willing. I’d just completed four years of social justice training and was quite the critical thinker, so of course my brain honed in on this word. I was under the impression that TFA was a progressive organization that focused on educating marginalized students. Could there possibly be a more marginalized group than students who are racial minorities, living in poverty and also have a disability? I knew that checking that box would seal my fate to be a special education teacher. Check!

And that’s exactly what happened.