What have you been doing since MTC?

I am now the assistant director for BYU Independent Study--the biggest non-profit independent study organization in the country. After leaving Mississippi I taught for 3 years at an urban magnet school in Chattanooga, TN, then taught for 1/2 year at a charter school in Utah. I have been with BYU for almost 2 1/2 years. My wife, Joanna, and I have 5 children (1 born in MS).

What was the greatest reward of being a part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps?

It's hard to pick apart the experience, so I'll just make a list: knowing that I was making a difference, 70 degree days in January, pecan trees in our yard, blue herons, car washes, absolute freedom in the classroom (my principal didn't care what I did, as long as my class was "under control"), humidity, living next to the town ballpark, kudzu, crop dusters, a melodic southern dialect, people sitting on their porches and talking, the smell and sound of southern air at nights, the semi-southern accent my 5 year old son picked up, mountain biking in Oxford (world class), and (specifically about MTC) being able to associate with a group of relatively like-minded people for just enough time each month to keep me focused on the bigger picture

What was the biggest challenge?

Leaving.

How has MTC impacted your life?

People born and raised in Yazoo wouldn't buy this, but teaching at Yazoo City High School, living on 18th street, playing hide-and-seek with my children and the rest of the kids in the neighborhood, riding bikes along the levee, reading books in Ricks Memorial Library, walking through the field to school, eating night after night of spaghetti with my family and (many nights) fellow MTCer Paul Munson--every minute I spent there felt like home. Even being back in the arid west where I was born, I feel like a stranger. Now I spend my free time plotting a return.

(Steven Park and Family)

The Mississippi Teacher Corps is the most competitive teaching program in the country. The two-year program, designed for non-education majors, recruits college graduates to teach in the Mississippi Delta and offers a host of benefits, including teacher training and certification, a full scholarship for a master's degree in education, job placement that includes full pay and benefits and, most importantly, the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students in one of the poorest areas of the country.