Teach For America North Carolina

We recently hosted our School Kick-Off Conference in Charlotte to bring together the entire 2024 North Carolina corps from our Charlotte-Piedmont Triad and Eastern North Carolina regions. We kicked this two-day event off with a celebration dinner, where we heard powerful perspectives from Jarian Kerekes (Head of Social Impact & President, Equitable Foundation) and Leah Carper (2022 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year). At this dinner, our first-year Teach For America corps members and Teach For America North Carolina staff members celebrated the end of our Pre-Service experience. On the second day of this two-day event, corps members participated in professional development sessions led by Teach For America North Carolina staff members and network affiliates. Corps members engaged in an amazing alumni panel moderated by Teach For America alumna Lisa Guckian (NYC '96). Lisa now serves with TFA's partner LEE. Our panel consisted of alumni from all over the state of North Carolina including: Johnathan Moore (CPT '16), Colleen Elisabeth Grosse (CPT '13), Cordelia Breiner (ENC '16), and Melissa Altemose (ENC '11). We are incredibly grateful to Jarian Kerekes and the entire team at Equitable for hosting us at their offices in Charlotte for this jam-packed day! We would like to say thank you to all of our amazing speakers, to our network members and friends, and to our Teach For America North Carolina staff members who came together to put on this incredible experience. As many of our educators gear up to head back into classrooms next week, we would like to send our appreciation to them as they are working tirelessly to serve students across the state of North Carolina in pursuit of "One Day." #TeachForAmerica #NCED #OneDayNC

We love this EducationNC story about Teach For America North Carolina alumna Franchone Bey (CPT ‘15), written by Eastern North Carolina alumnus Derick Lee (ENC ‘16). Before becoming an educator, Bey worked in the field of media and communications and working in "various roles, including working for Fox Television, Discovery Channel, and Black Enterprise Magazine." Out of her "necessity to create and be creative", Bey also started her own nonprofit, Obey Theatre Group. Bey ultimately leveraged her love of learning, academic training, and professional experience in media, broadcasting, and theater to eventually serve students as a Teach For America corps member.  In 2015, Bey joined our Teach For America North Carolina corps and taught in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. Alumna Derick Lee writes, "This year, she was selected as one of three #TeachingInColor “Educator of the Year” award recipients from the Center for Racial Equity in Education. In addition, she was acknowledged as one of six exceptionally creative teachers to be honored with the Arts & Science Council’s Cato Excellence in Teaching Award. Bey was also called on to be part of the CMS Foundation’s Teacher Talks series." This story of alumna Franchone Bey (CPT '15) is showcasing the power of educational innovation and how it is important to have passionate educators in classrooms with our students. Read the full length article here: https://lnkd.in/ey-4zetg #OneDayNC #TeachForAmerica #EducationalInnovation #NCED

Teach For America North Carolina's Executive Director, Dr. Monique Perry-Graves, is illuminating the path to "One Day" for our region. Recently, Dr. Perry-Graves was interviewed by the Carolina Business Review. She discussed topics related to the state of education in North Carolina and how Teach For America North Carolina For America is helping address these critical issues in our education system. "I always say education is workforce. Some of your biggest employers in your counties all across North and South Carolina are your school districts and so that's really important."-- Dr. Monique Perry-Graves In this interview, Dr. Perry-Graves outlined that due to the bipartisan commitment of lawmakers in Raleigh, North Carolina has repeatedly invested in teacher pay raises the last few budget cycles. Although there is more work to be done, these investments have helped recruit and retain teachers. Teach For America will continue to work with folks from both sides of the aisle and all across the ideological spectrum to sustain and grow investments in teacher pay and overall school funding. We are grateful for the lawmakers who are prioritizing these policies, which can soon put North Carolina first in the southeast in teacher pay. Dr. Perry-Graves has served as the first ever statewide Executive Director in North Carolina and has been leading our region for the last three years. Under her leadership, Teach For America North Carolina has made great impact throughout the state. Check out the full length interview here: https://lnkd.in/ei_G2spw #onedaync #teachforamerica #leadership

If you’re like us, then you loved what you saw in Teach For America North Carolina's “Our Future Sits Behind Every Desk” report, but you know we can do an even better job serving students, teachers, and communities. That is why we are asking our Teach For America North Carolina alumni to help us unlock an incredible opportunity! By giving a grassroots donation of $50 or more today, you can help us unlock a $125,000 matching grant. This grant will help us to continue to champion for educational innovation across the state of North Carolina. Your investment today will help us continue to illuminate the path to One Day for all students. Donate today by clicking this link: https://lnkd.in/dzrr4jzW #onedaync #teachforamerica

Teach For America North Carolina is having a tremendous impact across the state of North Carolina. We empower our network to continue to champion educational innovation and excellence because we believe our future sits behind desks in classrooms across North Carolina. In honor of celebrating the incredible impact of our network, we recently announced the release of “Our Future Sits Behind Every Desk: Teach For America North Carolina’s 2023-2024 Impact Report.” Our 2023-2024 impact report shares the details of TFA NC’s rich history, expansive footprint, and immense impact in classrooms. Our report features a letter from TFA NC's Executive Director, Dr. Monique Perry-Graves, statistics on the impact of our corps members and alumni from the 2023-2024 school year, information about our innovative programming, and more. Check out our 2023-2024 impact report by clicking this link: https://lnkd.in/e7NzGaWd #onedaync #teachforamerica #impactreport

Teach For America North Carolina is illuminating the path to One Day for all students because every child deserves an excellent education and a life filled with the biggest and brightest possibilities. Our network is full of innovators who are ready to support, challenge, and lead alongside each other as we aim to collectively expand opportunities for students in North Carolina. We, along with our network of 2,200 alumni, our corps members, and our network partners, are inspiring and impacting the lives of over 250,000 students across North Carolina. We are always proud to showcase the amazing work of our network across the state. Teach For America North Carolina is currently collecting information from our alumni and corp members on any awards or nominations that they received in the 2023-2024 school year. Please help us gather this information by sharing this post or tagging a known Teach For America North Carolina network member in the comments. Alumni and corp members can share their accomplishments by filling out this Google Form by August 5th: https://lnkd.in/eX9HpZDJ #OneDayNC #TeachForAmerica

It's our favorite time of the year! Last week Teach For America North Carolina welcomed our 2024 corps members in our three pillar communities, Eastern North Carolina, Charlotte, and the Piedmont Triad. Our Pre-Service experience supports corps members (CMs) in becoming equity-minded leaders, prepares them to provide their students with a high-quality education, and equips them to pursue a lifetime commitment to advancing educational equity and excellence. We are so excited for our next wave of teachers to join our equity-minded leaders in classrooms across North Carolina as we continue to illuminate the path to One Day for all students! #OneDayNC #TeachForAmerica

Life update — but make it a little late due to the chaos of moving and settling in to a new city! At the end of May, I graduated from Cornell University! I earned a Bachelor of Science with High Distinction in Human Development after graduating with above a 4.0 GPA. Since then, I have moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and begun my training with Teach For America. In addition, this weekend I found out that I successfully passed both of my licensure tests for teaching this upcoming school year! Thank you for everything Cornell University - College of Human Ecology, and cheers to the post-grad life and my next adventure with Teach For America North Carolina!

"I never thought I would leave the classroom. Fifth-grade reading is my passion. But I felt a new calling toward leadership. It was the same calling I felt for underrepresented students, to help them reach their full potential. Now, I want to help teachers do the same. " - Amy Tart (ENC '14) One of Teach For America North Carolina's key initiatives is to establish ambitious partnerships to develop intentional leaders across our footprint. Our alumni leaders are continuing to illuminate the path to One Day in and out of classrooms across the state. In her recent EducationNC column, Teach For America North Carolina's Executive Director, Dr. Monique Perry-Graves writes, "Many of our ambitious partnerships are underway, developing intentional leaders across our footprint. It would be easy to sit back, kick our feet up, and simply enjoy the fruit of our hard work. But our network of teachers, school and system leaders, and education professionals don’t think that way. They are relentless in their pursuit of more for their students. So must we be." As Dr. Monique Perry-Graves, reflects on Teach For America North Carolina's commitment to investing in our alumni leadership, she also sits down with Teach For America Eastern North Carolina alumna, Amy Tart (ENC '14) to discuss leadership, change management, and strategic impact. Check out full length article here: https://lnkd.in/eA6qzdm3 #onedaync #nced #leadershipdevelopment #teachforamerica

Last weekend Teach For America North Carolina hosted our first Alumni Induction Weekend. Our Alumni Induction Weekend was Teach For America North Carolina’s homecoming experience, bringing together our alumni network from across the state as we re-engaged with Teach For America's mission and welcomed our 2022 corps members into alumnihood. Our weekend was full of amazing moments including professional development sessions facilitated by network partners, TFA NC staff, and alumni. We also had the opportunity to hear from an amazing lineup of speakers including: Natalie Robinson (CPT '22), Lemondre Watson (Principal, Pittsboro Elementary + ENC '13), Tiffany Jordan (Deputy Director, West Side Community Land Trust. + CPT '12), Rachel Candaso(Pitt County Teacher of the Year + ENC '19), Dr. Erica Shoulders-Royster (Program Administrator, NCDPI + ENC '98), Rae Brackney (2024 Burroughs Welcome Fund North Central Region Teacher of the Year + ENC '15) and Dr. Monique Perry-Graves (Executive Director, Teach For America North Carolina). Teach For America North Carolina would like to say thank you to everyone who attended our Alumni Induction Weekend! We would also like to send a special congratulations to our 2022 corps members. We are so excited to see what you all will accomplish as you continue to illuminate the path to One Day as you enter alumnihood! #onedaync #teachforamerica #events #nced