South Central

After many delays and ticket issues, I finally arrived in Los Angeles (even though one of my bags decided to stay in Salt Lake City). It feels really good to be here, amongst all these people who want to make a difference in the lives of our nation's youth.

Right now, though, it feels a bit like freshman year all over again. The Loyola Marymount campus is absolutely beautiful. It sits atop a giant bluff overlooking the city to one side and the ocean to the other. Once arriving, I checked in and received my 615-page summer assignment guide. I walked around campus like a lost freshman looking for my dorm. These students have it good, though. Not only is their campus beautiful, with leafy palms swaying in the perfect summer sky, but their dorms are huge too! I'm sharing a suite-style room with three other special education teachers who will be teaching in the Bay Area next fall. One of them, Ally, just served in the Peace Corps in Benin and went to Ghana on multiple occasions. It's great to have commonalities with people right off the bat!

We are all teaching at a charter high school in South Central LA. In fact, all the Institute TFA teachers are teaching at charter schools because the LA Unified School District recently cut all the TFA positions and summer school programs for lack of funding. I think it's such a shame that students (especially those already suffering) are the ones who suffer at the hand of our current budget crisis. That's why I'm here: to try to lessen that suffering and give every student a chance to succeed.

Needless to say, it'll be an adventure, but one I'm looking forward to. I just hope they don't ask me to teach math!