Fellows from the 2005 cohort reflect on

Miami Teaching Fellows:

“After my graduation from college, I headed to South America to Bolivia and Chile, where I spent time in orphanages working with children, assuming beforehand that I would go there to ‘play’ with them. But before long, I was organizing English and art classes and attending open house nights at the local schools.  The culture and the Spanish language stayed with me. After returning home a year later, I knew that Indiana could not be my home forever because diversity and culture had become such important aspects in my life, and I needed more of that as part of my living environment. For a time, I worked as a counselor at a boys correctional facility; I started a Spanish class there for the boys, and I realized that maybe it was time to become a teacher in the more traditional sense.  I stumbled across Miami Teaching Fellows online, and I liked that they were interested in anyone interested in pursuing a career as a teacher – not just new college graduates.  I knew very little about Miami, but after visiting during my interview, I knew it was a city that encompassed the diversity and culture that I desired.  As a Fellow during the summer institute, you really do have access to wonderful resources, teachers, mentors, and other people becoming teachers just like yourself.  I teach at a middle school now with special needs students. I no longer have to invent classes to teach during the day – because that's what is expected and that's who I've become: a teacher.”

---Elizabeth Willkom, Elementary Exceptional Student Education Science Teacher, Miami Teaching Fellows 2005 Cohort, Former International Service Volunteer and Counselor

“I never wanted to be a teacher.  When I graduated in August of 2004 from Penn State University, my mother suggested that I apply for the Miami Teaching Fellows.  She insisted that it would be a great stepping stone for any job that I would want in the future.  I was hesitant at first and scared at the prospect of teaching impressionable minds.  Now that I have been teaching for two months, I can’t imagine doing anything else.  I have a great bond with my students and I actually want to get up and go to work because I know that I am improving their lives!  I have never wanted to get out of bed early for anything!  Now, I can’t wait to wake up and get to the best job in the best city.  It is a very rewarding feeling when you see the eyes of your students light up when they ‘get it’ or when they tell you that they want to be you when they grow up.  I never thought that I would want to be a teacher.  Now, I could never see myself doing anything else.  Interviewing with the Miami Teaching Fellows was the best decision that I have ever made.” 

--- Andrea Dempsey, Elementary Exceptional Student Education Teacher, Miami Teaching Fellows 2005 Cohort, Recent College Graduate