Stefanie Perry, Collegian

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts in 2006, Teach for America Corps member Stefanie Perry was placed to teach in a first-grade special education; her students were easily distracted and barely able to count to 10 or write their own names.

“The expectations for these students, by all of the adults who had dealt with them previously, were very low,” said Perry. “It was heartbreaking to see that they had basically been neglected through their whole kindergarten year.”

It turned out what Perry’s class, located in a Brooklyn elementary school, needed most was confidence and support. “Coming into the class and telling them that I expected them to succeed seemed to do the trick,” she said. “It’s been so amazing to watch them grow.”

This is the story of one of thousands of college graduates who have participated in Teach For America, a national education outreach program designed to enhance the education of children in low-income neighborhoods.

Teach For America places passionate and determined college graduates in classrooms in low-income school systems in need of teachers.

The organization builds “a diverse, highly selective corps of top recent college graduates and professionals