Teach For America announced today that Yazoo City locals Brezana Cross and Shaqwana Woodard have been selected to join the nonprofit’s 2016 teaching corps.
Teach For America is a nationwide organization that recruits talented and committed graduates and professionals to teach students in high need classrooms over a two-year commitment. As leaders in the classroom, Teach For America corps members make an immediate impact on lives of their students. After their time with Teach For America, most of our corps members continue their promising trajectory as leaders in many different fields.
Cross and Woodard, both graduates of Yazoo City High School, are both teaching in Mississippi.
“In 2009, I was blessed to have my first Teach for America teacher, Chris Matles. This experience changed my life and allowed me to see the world from a different perspective. Over the next three years, I would have two other Teach For America teachers who exposed me to college and many other possibilities,” said Cross. “So as I matriculated to Spelman College in the fall of 2012, my purpose became more apparent. My dreams of becoming a doctor transferred to a social passion for education. So I have known for a while that Teach for America was my purpose and that Yazoo City was the right place for me to serve at the right time. Throughout high school and college, I faced many hardships, but I knew that many of the children in my hometown looked up to me so I strive to serve as an example for my little future hometown heroes.”
Cross graduated from Yazoo City High School in 2012, and from Spellman College in 2016. Woodard graduated from Yazoo City High School in 2007, and from Jackson State University in 2013. Most recently, Woodard worked with Mississippi Action For Progress Head Start and transitioned to teaching this fall.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, by the time students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch enter fourth grade, they are almost two years behind in reading and half a year behind in math, as compared to their more affluent peers. Recent studies by Mathematica Policy Research, researchers at the University of North Carolina, and the state of Tennessee found that corps members have a positive impact on student achievement. Working closely with families, communities, and educators of all backgrounds, Cross joins a diverse group of individuals who have chosen to launch and continue ambitious careers of deep impact by leading in education.
“Our incoming corps members join a diverse, powerful network of leaders that include current corps members and more than 42,000 alumni who are all working to disrupt inequity and foster opportunity for all,” said Elisa Villanueva Beard, CEO of Teach For America. “I am excited to see the immense leadership, unique talents, knowledge, and passion these corps members bring into their classrooms this fall and to high-need communities throughout their careers.”
Cross will lead alongside and together with a remarkable and passionate group of advocates, including our alumni, who are shaping the political, economic, and social future of the country. Research bears out the impact our alumni have as change agents beyond the corps. Researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education found that more entrepreneurial education organizations are founded by Teach For America alumni than any other organization.
