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Relentless Pursuit

L.A. ’05 alums Phillip Gedeon, Hrag Hamalian, Taylor Rifkin, and Rachelle Snyder look back on their first year as teachers, the subject of a new book, Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach For America by Donna Foote.

Relentless Pursuit

L.A. ’05 alums Phillip Gedeon, Hrag Hamalian, Taylor Rifkin, and Rachelle Snyder look back on their first year as teachers, the subject of a new book, Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach For America by Donna Foote.

It’s your first day teaching. You’re sweating through your new clothes. No question, the 30 kids staring back at you can smell your fear. Now imagine having that day—and your entire first year of teaching—put under a microscope by a veteran journalist with a book deal. Four 2005 corps members at Locke High School in south Los Angeles agreed to just that: Phillip Gedeon, Hrag Hamalian, Taylor Rifkin, and Rachelle Snyder are the subjects of Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach For America by former Newsweek correspondent Donna Foote.

So, what were they thinking? “At the end of the day, [we thought] if this is something that’s going to help other people make a decision about joining Teach For America and shed light on the issues, then by all means I want to be a part of it,” Rifkin says.

The teachers spent four to five hours per week with Foote, sharing details and reflections on the week’s classes, lessons, and events, with some unexpected benefits: “Speaking to Donna forced me to think about what I was doing and how I could improve as a teacher,” says Hamalian.

Though all four alumni are pleased with the book and feel the portrayal of the corps experience and issues at Locke are on point, Rifkin—who now teaches at a nearby charter school—says it’s important to remember that “we only get a glimpse into those students’ lives, and certainly we don’t get the whole picture.”

Snyder, who still teaches special education at Locke, agrees. In one of the book’s more dramatic moments, one of her students urinates in a bucket in her classroom. “At the time, he was battling a large number of demons, including drug use and gang conflict, as well as social, mental, and physical deficits,” she says. “That very same student is graduating this year. He comes to school every day, and he makes sure to come and say hello to me and greet me with a hug each morning. . . He’s made huge strides in the years I have known him.”

All four teachers took on leadership roles their second year and mentored incoming corps members, an experience that led Hamalian to pursue school leadership as a Building Excellent Schools fellow. “It’s not just about changing Locke,” he says. “It’s about making middle schools and elementary schools successful, giving [kids] a reason to go to school so by the time they reach Locke . . . [they have] the ability to perform. The kids come in with a notion they’ve already failed. It’s changing the entire education scope of the community. That’s what ends up creating success at Locke.”

For his part, Gedeon—now teaching math at West Adams Preparatory High School, a new campus in the Los Angeles Unified School District—hopes the book’s readers will understand that being a corps member isn’t about being successful every day. “The truth is, all teachers are going through similar struggles,” Gedeon says. “I questioned myself as a teacher and also my commitment to what I was doing at the time. We all have moments of weakness and all have moments of doubt, but in the end, our convictions are what made us stay and continue to work to make this better.”