Teach for America (TFA), the organization founded by Wendy Kopp '89 to enlist college graduates as teachers in underprivileged schools across the country, received a 29 percent increase in applications this year.
Princeton has supplied low numbers of applications to TFA in past years, but this year 94 students — eight percent of the senior class — applied. TFA received roughly 17,000 total applications.
Elissa Clapp, vice president of recruitment and selection for TFA, credits the increase in Princetonian applications to internal and external changes in TFA recruitment.
"With Princeton's long history with Wendy Kopp, we invested more in the Princeton effort this year because in the past we hadn't seen the results we wanted there," Clapp said. "Since Kopp graduated from Princeton, there was a notion that students at Princeton knew what they needed to know, but we made sure this year to explain the mission of TFA and to get the information out there."
Lydia Holt '05, campus campaign manager for TFA, helped organize many recruiting events this year. This year's activities to inform students about the program included information sessions, meetings with Princeton alumni involved in the program and a visit from Kopp.
"People are becoming more aware of the disparity between the low and high income students," Holt said. "I'm happy that more people are working to close this achievement gap."
Rosalind Echols '05 applied for TFA this year because, she said, "It is the least we can do to help out."
"The whole point of the program is to eliminate educational inequality, and Princeton students have phenomenal educational backgrounds," she said.
Clapp said that she believes the large increase in applications will result in higher quality corps members.
"We already know that the pool is higher quality," she said. "The bar is getting higher, and we only let people in who meet this part. The quantity is encouraging and is a good sign for our generation."
Clapp cited the growing interest in TFA as evidence that a significant percentage of the student body wants to do something meaningful after graduation.
"Princeton students have what it takes, and that is why we have increased our efforts," she said.
Todd McGovern, director of communications for TFA, attributed this year's increase in applicants to greater recruitment efforts across the country.
"We went from recruiting on 350 campuses in 2004 to 500 campuses in 2005," McGovern said.
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