YSU graduate answers call to Teach for America

The Berlin Center resident is headed to Milwaukee to teach at an inner-city school.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Emery Boyle-Scott never intended to be a teacher.

With dual majors in political science and journalism, the Youngstown State University graduate had been considering careers in law or news before the recession hit.

But a tough job market led her to investigate Teach for America, a national nonprofit program that sends new college graduates off for two-year teaching stints in some of the nation’s most disadvantaged public-school classrooms.

Turns out she was just the kind of applicant the program was looking for.

Boyle-Scott, who lives in Berlin Center, graduated at YSU’s spring commencement May 16.

She headed to Chicago to start Teach for America’s intensive five-week teacher training. In September, she’ll begin her assignment as a special-education teacher in an inner-city Milwaukee school where she’ll earn a first-year teacher’s salary with benefits.

“People keep telling me how lucky I am to get a job in this economy, and I do feel lucky,” said Boyle-Scott, the daughter of Barb Scott and Sue Boyle. “I’m a little nervous, too. I know it won’t be easy, but to me this is not just a job. It’s making a difference. It’s doing something worthwhile.”

Teach for America was founded in 1990 with the mission of eliminating educational inequity by enlisting some of the nation’s most promising future leaders. Student application numbers are growing — more than 35,000 applied this year for 4,000 openings.

Boyle-Scott requested an urban school rather than a rural district. She said it helps that she has family relatively close to Milwaukee in Madison, Wis., and that Milwaukee is within a day’s drive from home. She will be taking graduate-level classes at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee as a requirement of the program.

She knows she’ll be stepping into a challenging environment. Teacher-retention rates in the Milwaukee public schools are low, fewer than 40 percent of high school sophomores are proficient in reading and only 20 percent of graduates enroll in college.

“I’ve had people tell me that I can get some experience there and then go to the suburbs to teach, but I’m not thinking that way,” she said. “I want to go where I’m most needed.”

She’s already demonstrated an ability to face challenges. She was home-schooled, then completed the information technology tech-prep program at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center before enrolling at YSU on a scholarship and living on campus.

She spent spring semester in 2008 studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan, and also traveled to Switzerland and Australia. As a teenager, she spent two summers volunteering in a kindergarten program operated by the Portage County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

At YSU, she served as news editor at the student newspaper for two semesters in 2006 and has been active in student organizations, including University Honors, YSU Presidential Mentors, YSU Democrats, Dance Club and the Model United Nations.

Boyle-Scott believes the Teach for America experience might lead her to a career in education, but she knows it could also open doors in business or graduate school. She said many graduate schools offer scholarships specifically for Teach for America alumni.

“Whatever I decide,” she said, “Teach for America seems like one of the best things I could do for my r sum .”