{"id":28819,"date":"2022-02-16T05:17:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T05:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=28819"},"modified":"2022-02-16T05:17:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T05:17:43","slug":"five-umd-students-commit-to-teaching-in-underserved-areas-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/five-umd-students-commit-to-teaching-in-underserved-areas-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Five UMD students commit to teaching in underserved areas this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Growing up with an educator for a mom, Michelle Moraa was exposed to teaching from a young age. In high school, Moraa volunteered at the educational day care her mom taught at. And now, the senior government and politics major is an undergraduate teaching assistant for a political theory and philosophy class.<\/p>\n

Come fall, Moraa will head across the country to Los Angeles to take the next big leap in her teaching career.<\/p>\n

Moraa is one of five University of Maryland students who committed this year to Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that trains and places individuals at schools in underserved communities for at least two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to work in a position where I knew that what I was doing was working toward the common good of something,\u201d Moraa said.<\/p>\n

For Moraa, the decision to apply to Teach for America stemmed from her interest in education policy. She thinks two years of teaching will \u201ctranslate into different parts of [her] life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather have the experience of having been in the classroom before I\u2019m a person researching and advocating for policies that are going to impact educators,\u201d Moraa said.<\/p>\n

[UMD students, faculty react to Supreme Court affirmative action cases<\/a>]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Taylor Newkirk, a public policy graduate student at this university, will be teaching in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the fall.<\/p>\n

As an undergraduate, Newkirk mentored middle schoolers, which helped her realize how much she enjoyed working with students.<\/p>\n

This past summer, she furthered her passion for education through a program at the Southern Education Foundation where she worked in the superintendent\u2019s office in the Griffin-Spalding County school district in Georgia.<\/p>\n

It was there that Newkirk realized she wanted to continue working in education to make it more equitable and pass policies that would benefit all students. During meetings, she saw parents voice complaints against critical race theory and other \u201cinclusive teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

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