by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
Five UNM students were chosen to participate in Teach for America this year - and more could be accepted in February.
Teach for America, which aims at ending education inequity, is a highly selective organization.
Last year, about 17,300 college seniors applied for the two-year program and 2,250 were selected to teach in 22 different low-income and rural communities around the United States.
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"We are looking for students who have a record of achievement. We are also looking for students with critical thinking skills and organizational ability and people who persevere in the face of challenges and who work well with others," said Siobhan Ehle, the Teach for America Recruitment Director in Minnesota.
"We are looking for people who will have high expectations of students and family in the low-income communities that we serve," Ehle said.
Ehle said the acceptance rate at UNM was impressive. She said 45.5 percent of the applicants from the University were admitted, while the average is usually 26.7 percent from a single campus.
The first application deadline was in October, and there is another one in February.
Vanessa Salazar is one of five chosen for the program, and she is moving to the San Francisco area in the fall to begin teaching.
"I think that because so many were accepted for the first deadline, and this is how many were accepted last year, that it just really shows that UNM really does have remarkable students and they are really into making sure that social issues are looked at," Salazar said.
Salazar, who also works to promote the organization on campus, said it is a huge achievement for UNM to have five of 11 applicants accepted to the program.
For the five students who were accepted, talking to students already involved in the program has helped answer questions.
Christine Probasco, a UNM alumna who began teaching in Thoreau, N.M., last fall, said the experience has been rewarding.
"I have become very personally invested in their (students') lives," Probasco said. "I would have to say that the opportunities available to the students that I teach are not equitable with the way that I grew up. Students don't really have outlets for any type of expression."
That was the case for Probasco, who said she never thought she would become involved in anything like Teach for America.
"If you had asked me that through college I would probably have said no," Probasco said. "I was very intent on becoming a psychologist and getting my Ph.D. in clinical psychology."
Probasco has a scrapbook of her students and scores showing their progress. She said being there for her students and improving their education is what motivates her as a teacher.
"First I get to spend time with children, and second I also get to work with teachers and help close the educational achievement gap," she said.
Students like Probasco are what the organization is looking for in teachers, Ehle said.
Student Leon Vigil, a sophomore, said Teach for America is a great organization that allows college students to use what they have learned to teach children. He is sure people would be interested in the program, but it does not have a visible presence on campus, he said.
"I think that they need to put themselves out there more because a lot of people don't really know about it," Vigil said.
