Service in Practice: Teach for America Counts Holy Cross as Top Contributor

A dozen recent Holy Cross alumni are taking their love of learning and service to the classroom by joining the ranks of Teach for America.

Teach for America, a non-profit organization that works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenge of poverty, recruits recent college graduates to commit to teaching for two years in under-served schools.

With these 12 alumni, Holy Cross ranks second among all schools in the country with 3,000 or fewer graduates for the number of alumni joining the corps. But it's hardly the College's first year on the list. Since Teach for America's inception in 1990, 212 Holy Cross alumni have participated in the program.

The class of 2018 alumni have joined 3,600 others from other schools working across 36 states and the District of Columbia. The newest Holy Cross alumni are heading classrooms in Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Texas, New Orleans, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Memphis, Tennessee and Miami, Florida.

"Holy Cross challenges our students to consider the ways they can best use their gifts, talents and passions in service to others," says Amy Murphy, director of the Center for Career Development. "For many of our graduates, that is in our nation's most under-resourced communities and schools. What's more, Holy Cross students embody many of the qualifications and traits that Teach for America seeks in candidates: demonstrated leadership skills, high achievement and a commitment to standing in solidarity with those from marginalized or impoverished backgrounds."

Carter De Haven '18, who was a political science major, chose to join Teach for America because he's always loved learning.

"As a student, I always enjoyed being in school because that's where I was able to satisfy my craving for knowledge. Fortunately, many of my teachers helped me cultivate this passion for learning, and they showed how important and impactful a mentor can be while developing this passion. My hope is that with this new enthusiasm for learning, my students will set their sights on a college education and a lifetime of absorbing knowledge."