Oh my sweet Jesus, y'all are getting an update from me!
*side note: I promise that I haven't completely abandoned my midwestern roots and lost all sense of how to speak. But I have developed a *slight* fancy for the word "y'all" and am enjoying practicing my southern drawl where I won't get made fun of.
Well, some significant changes have occurred in my life since the last time I wrote an entry in my blog, the biggest of which is that I am now officially a daughter of Saint Louis University forever! Graduation weekend was SO.MUCH.FUN. OhMyWord I can't even explain it. My parents and sister rolled into town on Thursday, where we ate at one of my favorite Spanish/Italian restaurants and stayed in town all weekend for fun and festivities. I left SLU exactly the way I wanted to, with nothing but love in my heart for a place that has given SOsoSO much to me. I put this on one of my Facebook statuses, but it is worth saying again: my four years at SLU were some of the most life-changing years that I'm sure I will ever have in my life. To everyone who's played even a small part of it, please accept my deepest gratitude and heartfelt thanks :)
SO I came home from school and was at home for a week, which was a restful time and gave me some great opportunities to catch up with some of my best friends. It also meant that I had exactly 7 days to unpack everything (which didn't exactly happen...) and re-pack 2 suitcases so I could get ready for my next adventure: Teach For America! My family and I (minus my brother, sadly) flew down to Memphis on Saturday to begin looking at housing and begin to get situated with my new city. Honestly, I have never fallen in L.O.V.E. with a city so quickly. I don't know what it was, but something spoke to me about this town that immediately caused me to love it. I'm still learning a lot about its history and culture, and I have no doubt that my love will only continue to grow.
Monday officially started my first phase as a first year TFA corps member: induction. For those of you who don't know TFA has 3 main components to the summer before you start teaching, and the first phase is called induction. It is used to acclimate you to your region, introduce you to some regional (and sometimes national) staff, and, as my sister says, "start the brainwashing process." We learn about our core values, our impact in the classroom and as an alum, and get to know a LOT of people. We're now almost officially half way through induction, and so far I have met some amazing people that have done some I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E things for their kids in the classroom. I wish I had time to write about it all. Ask me the next time you see me, I know I will be able to talk your ear off!
One of the things I've been most inspired by since I've arrived in Memphis is the opportunities that are coming to this city in terms of public education reform. If you don't know, Tennessee was the recipient of the a national "Race to the Top" grant that awarded only 3 states something like $500 million to the 13 poorest and lowest performing schools in the state (8 of which currently are in Memphis). In addition, Memphis City Schools was also the recipient of an almost $100 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for education reform. This year, Memphis was able to accept 183 corps members into the 2011 corps. Coupled with the 2010 corps, one-fifth of the teachers within the Memphis City School District in the 2011-2012 academic year will be Teach For America teachers, and over the next five years we will impact over 100,000 students in the classroom. This is unbelievable and certainly not the norm in all TFA regions across the country!
Tonight we were able to tour the National Civil Rights Museum and see the balcony and room where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings coming out of tonight (which I will spare you from temporarily and save them for another post) :) but during our de-briefing sessions one of my friends said something that I think was so interesting and important to think about: in 1968, the United States was watching Memphis as an epicenter of civil rights reform and/or as a catalyst for change. Now, 40 some-odd years later, Memphis has more opportunity in its hands to be an epicenter for educational reform and a proof point for the country that all children have the ability to achieve. I am INCREDIBLY excited and unbelievably humbled to be a part of this movement.
This is the time. Memphis is the place.
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