“Education has dramatically changed my life,” Rice University President Reginald Desroches said at Teach for America's annual Ignite Potential luncheon held at the Briar Club in Houston on Feb. 21. He spoke in front of an audience of nearly 300 people at the event.
The event, chaired by Colin Poggi and Sangita Poggi and featuring DesRoches as the keynote speaker and education advocate Janet Clark as the honoree, was a fundraiser and event about Teach for America's impact on the Houston community. The aim was to raise awareness.
“I can tell you from personal experience that your actions and those of everyone at Teach For America make a difference,” Desroches said.
In his keynote address, Desroches talked about the profound impact education has had on his life, shaped by his parents' unwavering determination to provide opportunities for their children despite their lack of formal education. I looked back. His parents, who immigrated to the United States from Haiti, made sacrifices to ensure their children received a quality education.
“By working weekends and double shifts, my parents were able to send us to Catholic schools and good universities. For me, that was the University of California, Berkeley, on the other side of the country.” Desroches said.
At Berkeley, she found support and community through programs such as the Professional Development Program (PDP), which is designed to support first-generation and at-risk students in STEM fields. This supportive environment not only promoted academic success, but also fostered a sense of belonging and camaraderie that is essential for minority students.
“The most important thing this program did was allow us to build community, which is often difficult for black and brown kids in STEM fields,” DesRoches said. said. “We were able to ask questions without the anxiety we normally feel and realize that other people have the same questions.”
He credits his experiences with community-building initiatives like PDP and the National Association of Black Engineers as pivotal in shaping the trajectory of his career, ultimately leading him to pursue academia rather than industry. He said it happened. Teaching at a community college further strengthened his passion for education, emphasizing the transformative power of learning and the importance of fostering supportive communities in educational settings.
“The opportunities that my brothers and I worked hard to earn must be available to all, but only if institutions of higher education significantly and visibly increase diversity, equity, and inclusion on their campuses. This will only happen if we intensify our efforts to raise the bar,” said Desroches. “These efforts don't just open doors to people who have been previously prohibited or underserved. We want a place for everyone at the table, where everyone feels fully welcome. , we must create and sustain a community that feels empowered.”
Desroches said Teach For America is doing this across the country, including in Houston.
“Your work provides educational opportunities for children who otherwise would not have access to basic education,” he said. “Like Rice, your mission is to make the world a better place through knowledge, discovery, and scholarship. And like you, we believe everyone should challenge their dreams. .”
Dreams are certainly what Molly Wancewicz brought to Rice. The 2021 graduate is currently a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Belgium, where she worked on coursework that helped her chart a career path that combines her interest in public education with her passion for workers' rights. .
“Through some excellent classes in the history, political science, and environmental departments, I gained an academic understanding of the intertwining of education and labor,” Wancewitz said. “This allowed me to see how an education that I always thought was important, but never imagined would fit into my career, aligns with my academic and professional goals. is completed.”
After graduating magna cum laude with a double major in political science and history, Wancewicz enrolled in Teach for America and enrolled at Fondren Middle School in the Houston Independent School District. She said the experience was both challenging and rewarding.
“I was lucky enough to open my eyes and get into teaching. My mom is also a sixth grade teacher, and I've taught in public schools all my life,” Wancewitz said. “Thanks to her insight, I was able to anticipate many of the challenges we would face, including the persistent under-resourcing of public schools and the frequent disconnect between policy and reality on the ground. Despite my obstacles, I truly loved my students and found joy and fulfillment in helping them grow.”
Many of those students were learning English as a second language, and Wancewitz was preparing for an eventual Fulbright assignment.
“All of our students in Brussels are learning English as a second, third or fourth language, so we found that many of the skills and strategies were transferable,” Wancewicz said. “After earning my certification and teaching for two years, I learned a lot about pedagogy and gained a good amount of content knowledge that helped me as I transitioned to teaching in this new environment. ”
Currently, Wancewicz is preparing for her next challenge: law school, after which she plans to pursue a career in labor law.
“My experience with Teach for America was a reminder of the far-reaching effects of labor law,” Wancewicz said.
For her, education is a catalyst for personal growth and social change, and she calls on institutions to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure all individuals have access to transformative educational opportunities. I echoed Desroches' call.
“Providing young people with a path to a first-class education is transformative,” Desroches said. “It's more than just learning how to apply mathematics, passing an organic chemistry class, or reading Aristotle. Education is about opening young minds and challenging our beliefs. Education is about opening doors, doors you never thought would be open. Education is about having conversations and developing friendships with people from different backgrounds and with a wide range of perspectives and experiences. Being around such diverse people creates improved ideas, self-awareness, awareness of others, and critical thinking skills that last a lifetime.”
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