A plea to HISD from Teach for America member
We moved to Houston just as I was about to start my freshman year of high school. I remember driving around Eastwood, the neighborhood where we would be living. I saw dilapidated homes and pothole-filled streets. I missed my old home, the college town of Urbana, Ill. I missed the friends I’d left behind.
I was supposed to interview for a place at Eastwood Academy High School, a Houston ISD charter school. As we sat in the parking lot outside, homesickness overwhelmed me. I cried.
Despite that breakdown, I managed to do well enough in the interview to be awarded a spot at the school. And it took only one day for the school to welcome me into its family. That first day, as I was walking toward my ride home, about 20 people waved and called, “Bye, Josh.”
I had started my new life at Eastwood Academy.
The school’s heart was true and full, but it struggled in other areas. Funding and resources are always a problem for innercity schools that cater to low-income minority students. Many of our classes were in trailers. Textbooks were often missing covers, and our only sports option was the soccer team.
The teachers, though, did their best with what they had and were the backbone of the school. Two stood out: Shiroy Aspandiar (“Mr. A”) and Karthik Soora. They were some of the best educators I’ve ever had, including in college. Both of them were Teach For America corps members.
Mr. A inspired me to love AP world history, a subject I had no previous interest in, and to put more effort into it than any class I’d taken. I spent spring break helping him create the “World’s Civilizations Olympics,” a competition meant to prepare us for the AP test.
Mr. Soora taught AP chemistry, but he mentored me far beyond the classroom. He helped me develop a greater appreciation for my fellow classmates and their differing educational experiences. He devoted countless hours to helping students prepare for the SAT and to helping them fill out their college and financial aid applications.
These two teachers helped transform the school and bring in funding that allowed for the construction of a gym, new cafeteria and additional classrooms. They inspired record numbers of students, including me, to pursue college careers at top universities across the nation. Mr. A and Mr. Soora are just a few examples of the many Teach for America teachers who worked hard to affect students like me.
Teach for America places college graduates and other professionals from a variety of backgrounds in schools of high need all over the country. Although I decided to pursue engineering at Duke University, teaching always occupied a part of my mind. In my junior year, I ran into a Teach for America representative at a career fair, and we quickly found ourselves on the topic of my former teachers. A year later I was accepted to join the Teach for America corps in Houston.
Once learning of my acceptance, I contacted Eastwood Academy to tell them the incredible news. It turned out that they needed someone to teach physics and chemistry — the two subjects I was certified to teach.
I flew back to Houston to interview, and a week later was excited to be offered the job. This was my chance to give back to the school and community that had given me so much. That had welcomed me into a loving family, inspired me to go to Duke and instilled the interest in, and passion for, education.
Earlier this month, it came as a great shock that HISD’s board voted not to renew the district’s contract with Teach for America, making it impossible for me to teach at Eastwood. My excitement dissipated like air from a popped balloon. The district I wanted to work for and to support no longer wants me.
I hope that HISD and TFA can come to an agreement soon. As long as there is space and a desire for me at Eastwood Academy, I will fight for the chance to be a part of the community again.