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Interviews |
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| Wendy Kopp:
Teach for America, Founder & President
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 | About Wendy Kopp |
| When Wendy Kopp graduated from Princeton University in 1989, she founded Teach For America (TFA), the national teacher corps. Recent college graduates in excellent academic standing commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural public schools across the country. Within eight years, Teach for America has trained and placed 4,000 college graduates to teach throughout the country from South Central Los Angeles to the South Bronx. |
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| The Interview |
GCD: How did you start Teach for America?
WK: When I was a college senior, I felt that there were thousands of seniors all over the country who were looking for a way to make a difference in the world. I was also concerned about the fact that not all children in this country have the opportunity to get a good education. One day I thought of the idea of a national teacher corps - sort of like the Peace Corps. It would recruit young men and women graduating from college to commit two years to teaching in the nation's most under-served schools. I was so excited by the idea that I wrote my undergraduate senior thesis on how to create it. I did a lot of research and became all the more convinced that I could make it happen. I wrote letters to chief executive officers at thirty large corporations asking for a seed grant of a small amount of money to launch the project. Mobil Oil made a grant of $26,000, which enabled me to get started. I recruited a group of other recent college graduates and together we launched the national teacher corps, which we named Teach For America. 2,500 students applied during the first year. We chose 500 of them to be our first corps members, and organized an eight-week training institute to teach them how to teach.
GCD: What kind of skills do you feel are the most important to have to create an organization like TFA?
WK: An ability to stay focused on the end goal Good writing; logical thinking; and organization skills and efficiency. An ability to envision new possibilities. A deep commitment to what you're doing.
GCD: What do you enjoy most about your work?
WK: I know we have a positive impact on the world, and I am able to work with incredibly dedicated and idealistic people. |
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