I. What drew you to apply and then join TFA?
I came of age politically under the Bush regime.  His first victory came when I was 17 3/4, and I was only getting my bearings as a citizen of a great nation.  Thus, for the entirety of my voting lifetime, I’ve watched the country become less great.  Through college, my politics became richer, and I started blaming just one person.  I began to wonder how so many people could be so indifferent, so unconsciously controlled, by powerful forces around them.  Perhaps presumptuously, I did feel different; I felt aware and capable.  But why, how was I different.  Reflections always led me back to education, which became to make sense as a possible solution to ay of the social or political problems I considered.  An educated populace reads more newspapers, is less susceptible to advertising, votes for candidates instead of against them, is more likely to be involved in their community.
Teach For America was only posters for me.  Their presence at the University of Missouri was fledgling.  I was finishing up a Master’s degree in one year.  I had options, but wanted more, so I completed a lengthy and challenging application process for TFA, just to have options.  I felt that perhaps I should put my back into all the political sentiments I’d let flow from my mouth for so many years.  I was accepted and placed in my third chooice of city – New York City.  My mom, a former substitute teacher, was not exactly encouraging, stating that administration drove her out of the profession.  My dad outrightly discouraged me, insisting that my talents were better employed on a larger scale.  But they were nonetheless supprtive, and after some Rumi-esque heartspace-searching, I accepted the offer and moved to New York City to become a teacher in the Bronx.

II.What were your original undergraduate studies focused on initially?
I went to the University of Missouri’s Journalism school because I wanted to become an anchor for the Daily Show.  I switched out of broadcast to the advertising sequence when I realized that I’d have to have a particular haircut to be an anchor.  Unwilling to mold and market myself, I decided to learn how to mold and market things, specifically by using computer to create graphic images but also more generally to understand audiences and messaging.  A secondary interest, focused on Linguistics, became a minor; at the same time, I also became very involved in the Honors College Science sequence.  Thus, a background in replicable science, cognitive linguistics, and communications was the ultimate focus of my undergraduate studies.  My year of graduate school only furthered these efforts.

III. Where are you from, if some place other than NYC?
I was born in Olney, IL, the home of the white squirrel.  I moved to Troy, IL when I was maybe two or three, where I lived until I moved to Columbia, MO for college.  So, I’m a small-town kind of guy.

IV. Where did you receive your secondary and undergraduate education from, if some place other than NYC?
The University of Missouri-Columbia.  I didn’t have the money of GPA to go to an east coast school, but quite frankly, I’m happy in retrospect.  The elite have nothing on me except a resume line, and I think my background shows a breadth of experience and general trajectory that isn’t supported by institutions and money, but rather diligence and intellect.

V. What made you complete the program (since the turnover rate is not always solid)?
TFA is hard.  My placement was good.  My mom was right about the management, which was generally out of touch and overbearing (remarkably, at the same time).  I completed it because I finish what I start.  I finished up two years because I could never have ditched those kids.  I strived for alumnus status because in the process I realized I would be signing my life over to education no matter what I ended up doing, and would want to work with other people willing to put their heart and soul into solving this problem that has for so long seemed to be so pivotally important to me.

VI. Do you plan on continuing as an educator in the public school
system (NYC or elsewhere)?
I have done so; as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistance, I now teach at a vocational high school in Majene, West Sulawesi, Indonesia.  Next year, I will either teach at an alternative high school in Brooklyn or in a javanese pesantren (muslim boarding school).  I never would have guessed that I would continue in education when I began, and I believe those who exit the classroom never push education out of their hearts.  The classroom isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t the only way to approach the problem.  Perhaps worse are those who are ineffective in the classroom and refuse to work harder or exit.

VII. What do you feel you have accomplished by teaching?
Concretely, I have helped 4 kids win 2nd place in all of New York City in a video post-production contest.  I created a school newspaper and taught several kids to use photoshop.  I formed relationships with kids that are still strong thanks to facebook and myspace.  I got over 50% of my ESL population to pass into the general population, and all of them to move up at least one level a year.  I set curriculum around non-standard texts and increased reading rates, especially among boys, measurably.
Philosophically, I showed kids that strength doesn’t always mean yelling and violence; that a Gandhi-inspired vegetarian can hold his own and them some against aggressive, belligerent kids and adults.  I became a role model and a friend to those searching.

If I teach, whether it be in New York or Kembang belor, or otherwise, it’ll be high school.  I like teaching kids I can reason with.  And it’ll be English, Technology or English as a second/foreign language…on paper.  I really teach kids to think critically and challenge assumptions that box them in.

—

And in response to an old teacher’s facebook message…

I do like teaching. It’s a very different experience here in Indonesia, for so many reasons. But with that said, schools in the Bronx were not functional equivalents of my own school(s, since we moved after my sophomore year). i like it. It’s a hard job if you care. It’s easy if you don’t. And therein lies room for improvement. These are my thoughts after three years, anyway… :)