When I received my email two days ago from Teach for America welcoming me to the 2010 Nashville corps, all my friends were ecstatic knowing that I’ve been interested in Teach for America for a long time now. I’ve been told for years that I reminded people of their elementary school teachers so it came as little surprise that that’s where I’d been placed.
But then the inevitable — “Nashville?"
To be honest, I’d never really thought about Nashville until it was time for me to submit my regional preferences. Most of my other choices were up and down the East Coast because, as much as the Midwest has been an adventure these past few years, I felt pulled back to the coast. My father, however, has been talking about retiring to the South alot recently instead of his usual longing for Hawaii. Once I managed to convince him (somewhat) that Hawaii was not as the top of my list, however, I started looking more seriously at some TFA regions other than those that were most familiar to me.
I’ve yet to go to Nashville, but the more I read about it both before and after applying and the more I’ve talked to people who’ve lived there, the more excited I get about it. This is the first year that TFA is placing teachers in the region which is a fantastic opportunity to feel like part of the foundation of the TFA presence in the area. I was drawn to places that had a smaller corps and with only 50 corps members this school year and a goal of 50 more for the 2010 corps, Nashville definitely intrigued me.
In high school (and even college), friends teased me for liking country music. I guess it will work to my advantage moving to Nashville!
