Education in Sight’s co-founder George Dong (Chicago ’09) says that spending time in rural China opened his eyes to the fact that rural and underserved students also suffer from uncorrected vision problems that drastically affect their learning outcomes.

A desire to get firsthand experience and meet people impacted by educational policy inspired Aviva to join TFA’s corps. She taught for four years before taking on a variety of policy roles. Today, she leads a company that empowers voters.

Maggie's dual passions for education and the arts have intersected throughout her academic and career arcs. The wisdom she's gained from experience in the classroom has become invaluable throughout her professional journey.

Eric Kwak immigrated to the United States when he was eight years old and grew up in Koreatown, Los Angeles as an undocumented student. He attended the Los Angeles Unified School District and with the support and belief from his teachers, he went on to earn his B.S. in business administration at UC Berkeley. Eric Kwak is currently a Head Start teacher in the west side of Chicago. This past summer, he was a policy fellow at Ed-Trust West working on a district report card that measured achievement gaps using the newly designed CA Dashboard. He plans to use his experience growing up as a low-income student and as a teacher to better lives for disadvantaged students through policy. 

A little roadblock didn't stop Teach For America alum Sydney Phillips from pursuing a career focused on equity.

Raman deferred a Ph.D. program in physical chemistry to teach high school math. He shared his love of math with students by establishing a calculus program and motivating them to pursue STEM degrees. 

As an independent consultant, Raman works with organizations to improve their operations. His corps experience increased his desire to use his technical ability to improve things for less fortunate people.

Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana alum Sharon Pondner is a veteran teacher who joined TFA in her native Chicago after teaching for 13 years.

Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana alum Anthony Zarate was named a finalist for the 2016 Illinois State Board of Education's annual Teach of the Year Award.

Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana alum Francie Schnipke Richards serves as Head of Partnerships and Development at CPS and Executive Director of the Children First Fund.