Profile of the Month - December 2004

Randy Taylor

Randy Taylor, Mississippi Teacher Corps Class of 2003, is a native of the Mississippi Delta. Randy grew up in Clarksdale and attended Coahoma County High School . Randy has seen first-hand the challenges young people face growing up in the Delta. "You never knew what was going to happen from day to day," says Randy of growing up in the Delta. "A lot of kids had to raise themselves. Kids could get into a lot of things they shouldn't because there wasn't a lot of supervision and there was a lot of peer pressure."Randy attended the University of Mississippi and received a dual degree in Biology and Psychology. While at the University of Mississippi, and as a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, Randy participated in many activities, including Habitat For Humanity and the University of Mississippi Gospel Choir .

Randy currently teaches Biology at South Panola High School. "I feel like I can relate to a lot of the kids and the challenges they face," says Randy. “I believe that the role of a teacher is one of the most important and challenging commitments that one can undertake."

In the summer of 2003, shortly after entering the Teacher Corps, Randy was married to Kim Weston. Kim recently finished her M.BA at Ole Miss.

The Mississippi Teacher Corps is a two-year program that recruits recent college graduates to teach in critical-shortage areas in the Mississippi Delta, in exchange for a full scholarship for a masters' degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi . The program was founded in 1989 by Amy Gutman, a Harvard University graduate and Dr. Andy Mullins , current Special Assistant to the Chancellor of Ole Miss. Since 1989 more than 300 participants, reaching an estimated 4,500 students, have taught in critical-needs school districts as part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.