The Mississippi Teacher Corps is an alternate route teacher certification program for college graduates with degrees in subjects other than Education.  Participants spend two years teaching in the Mississippi public school system and taking classes at the University of Mississippi.  When I graduated from Rhodes College I was unsure of the path ahead.  I achieved a Bachelor of Arts in German and History, and I was headed to Germany with the Fulbright Scholarship.  My experience in Germany ignited a passion for education, but did not light the way to a career in this field.  The Mississippi Teacher Corps provided a teaching job, training, certification, and ongoing education.  In addition, the MTC vision for reaching some of the nation’s most disadvantaged students runs parallel with my developing vision for the improvement of education in our global community.  Through my experience with the MTC I have grown in three main areas of my professional life.  First, I have adopted a standard of excellence. Second, I have made an unequivocal commitment to fostering students’ growth. Third, I have determined my life’s career path. 

The vision behind the MTC is to bring fresh wind to the stale air of the Mississippi public schools.  This is accomplished by sending the best teachers into the toughest situations.  An immense amount of training is required to equip teachers to go into these areas.  Mediocre preparation falls short of the intended goal.  Therefore, the MTC targets excellence in teacher training and recruiting. This is effectively communicated to the participants.  The culture of excellence in MTC has worn-off on me as a professional.  I realize that every day I represent the MTC, and I can add to or subtract from the legacy of excellence.  More importantly, I realize that my students’ memories of high school Social Studies or German will be inexorably tied to me for the rest of their lives.  I make it my goal to leave a legacy of excellence both in the memories of my students and for the prestige of the MTC.  Over the course of my two years with the Corps, I have found that achieving excellence is difficult, but striving for it leaves no room for regrets in the end. 

“I have never, ever given up on my one of my students,” one of my advisors said, explaining his commitment to education.  This is a rare voice in a society which expects little from public education or public educators.  Yet, this is the expectation communicated by the MTC to the participants, and this is the foundation for changing the face of education in our nation.  My parents did not raise a quitter.  I have found that, of all possible obligations, it requires the greatest amount energy to remain steadfast in giving whatever is necessary to underachieving students.  However, this labor is perhaps the most pertinent to our progress as a society.  This means extra hours, parent conferences, developing new methods, enduring bad attitudes, and sacrificing personal interests.  The intensity of the MTC coupled with the highly charged high school environment produces overachieving teachers focused on forming outstanding students.  With a student’s future in the balance, the stakes are too high for the highly qualified MTC teachers to give up after only a few attempts.  I strive to daily demonstrate this unwavering conviction to students and administration because it is essential to professional excellence and it is how I have been trained.

I am convinced through my work with the MTC that work in the field of Education is inexhaustible.  The problems are too big, the number of clients too vast, and the consequences too great if this segment of citizenship is ignored.  The most vital lesson I have learned from both my successes and my failures over the last two years is that my gifts and abilities are best employed in a career in Education.  My generation is one of the most qualified and most ambitious in the Nation’s history.  Yet, we are also the most likely in history to change careers every five years because there are so many options.  Since graduating college, one of my biggest struggles has been determining my own career path.  I am very grateful for my experience with the MTC because it has confirmed my career choice and ignited an even greater passion for enacting societal change through education.  

In conclusion, the Mississippi Teacher Corps has been instrumental in forming my current professional life and my aspirations for the future.  I believe that the training and experiences I have gained are second to none.  In terms of the future, I plan to pursue a position in school administration, and I hope to one day work with governmental agencies to solve national and even international education quandaries.  For me, the MTC has been a perfect spring board for this career, and I expect these skills and this passion to remain with me for the rest of my life.