TFA Challenges UK Students to 'Be the Change'

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 6, 2011) − This week, for the first time, the University of Kentucky has celebrated TFA Week in recognition of Teach For America (TFA), a national program in which outstanding college graduates commit to teach for two years in disadvantaged urban and rural public schools. The week of events introducing UK students to the program will culminate with the leadership dinner program "Be the Change" Oct. 7.

"Be the Change" is a premier leadership dinner and discussion meant to challenge students to participate in initiatives that improve society. A motto for TFA's recruitment drive, "Be the Change" comes from the Mahatma Gandhi quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." TFA's "Be the Change" event will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the UK Student Center Grand Ballroom. Students interested in attending should reserve a space at the dinner by emailing the program at ukteachforamerica@gmail.com.

UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy will kick off TFA's "Be the Change" program that also features a talk by kinesiology senior Clay Stanley, chair of the popular UK student-run philanthropy event DanceBlue, and a panel of former TFA corps members moderated by Colleen Crawford, UK manager of recruitment for TFA and 2007 corps member in the San Francisco Bay Area. TFA panelists will include:

• UK alumna and University of Louisville medical student Jessica Huber, who served in Houston in 2008;

• UK law and public policy student Peter Stephans, who served in the Mississippi Delta Area in 2006;

• UK Global Scholars Program alumna Meg McKinney, who is currently serving in  Charlotte, N.C.; and

• UK alumna and KIPP educator Brittany Langdon, who served in Indianapolis in 2007.

Political science junior Nolan Jackson, the UK campus campaign coordinator for TFA, will close the evening's festivities.

Last summer, TFA accepted its largest class of UK recruits to date — 25 corps members. UK's group was among a class of 5,200 recruits nationwide selected from approximately 48,000 applications. TFA applicants represented the full range of academic majors, including math, science and education; some with work experience from a variety of career sectors including finance, technology, military and nonprofit. Twenty-two percent are the first in their family to graduate from college, and nearly one-third received Pell Grants. Twenty-three percent are graduate students or professionals. 

As part of the program, corps members were placed in the nation's highest-need elementary and secondary schools in many of the country's lowest income communities, both rural and urban, in an effort to close the achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged children. In the current school year, 9,300 first- and second-year corps members will reach 600,000 students in 43 regions across 34 states and the District of Columbia. The 43 regions include new sites in the Appalachia region of Kentucky under the direction of UK alumnus and 2006 corps member Will Nash, founding executive director of Teach For America-Appalachia.

For more information on TFA Week or the "Be the Change" event at UK, contact ukteachforamerica@gmail.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-8716 or whitney.hale@uky.edu