Teach for America applications

Jenna McAteer,  Loyola’s TFA liaison, sends along this message:

My name is Jenna McAteer and I am a fellow senior here at Loyola. This year, I am also serving as a Campus Campaign Coordinator for Teach For America. I just wanted to take a quick minute to reach out to you all via email, as our 2^nd application deadline is quickly approaching this Friday, September 13^th.

Here are some statistics surrounding educational inequity in that you may find interesting:

•  By age three, children of professionals have vocabularies that are nearly 50 percent greater than those of working class children, and twice as large as those of children whose families are on welfare.
•  By the end of fourth grade, African American, Latino, and poor students of all races are two years behind their wealthier, predominantly white peers in reading and math. By eighth grade, they have slipped three years behind, and by twelfth grade, four years behind.

Educational opportunities should not be determined by your family’s income, ethnicity, or the neighborhood in which you live.  That’s why Teach For America is developing a movement of leaders who will help drive change at every level of our education system toward the goal of eliminating educational inequity. These leaders start their paths as corps members who teach for two years in urban and rural high-need communities and help students make the academic progress that expands their opportunities. Deeply affected by their teaching experience, our alumni continue to advocate for students and build lasting change in many different roles and fields.

Are you ready for the challenge?  Apply to the 2014 Teach For America corps.

If you have any questions or would like to meet informally to speak about anything Teach For America, please do not hesitate to contact me at jlmcateer@loyola.edu. Also, for more TFA at Loyola information, please “like” our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LoyoldMDTFA and follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LoyolaMD_TFA

Is the grass greener on the STEM side of the fence?

Here’s an interesting article from the IEEE, professional organization for technology fields: http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth

The article is long, but lays out usefully for people in tech fields and the humanities alike some of the myths generated about the job market … and emphasizes the value of a well-rounded education for ALL fields. 

Here’s a quote from near the end of the article:

Emphasizing STEM at the expense of other disciplines carries other risks. Without a good grounding in the arts, literature, and history, STEM students narrow their worldview—and their career options. In a 2011 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Norman Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, argued that point. “In my position as CEO of a firm employing over 80 000 engineers, I can testify that most were excellent engineers,” he wrote. “But the factor that most distinguished those who advanced in the organization was the ability to think broadly and read and write clearly.”

Take that “Math, Numbers, and the Real World” course seriously, folks! Along with your course on Milton 🙂

How to Write a Cover Letter

This article on how to write a cover letter in slate.com comes recommended from English alum and 2011 Carrell Medal winner, Andrew Zaleski.

English majors make terrific job prospects — you just have to know how best to present what you offer!