Textile Senior Heads for Teach for America

Darryl Willie, NC State’s Student Body President, walked proudly on May 18^th as he graduated from the College of Textiles.  He knows that the education that he has received here has helped him prepare for the next path he will travel.  You see, Darryl is heading to Houston, Texas in mid-June to start training for Teach for America.

So what is Teach for America?  Teach for America is paid for through AmeriCorps, which works with nonprofit agencies, faith-based groups, school and other organizations to provide opportunities for Americans to serve their communities in education, children and youth, community development, public health, hunger and homelessness projects.  Darryl will be a full time paid teacher in a urban or rural public school for two years starting this fall.  Teach for America looks for recent college graduates in all academic backgrounds that are interested in helping children of our nation gain the opportunities they deserve.

So how did Darryl decide to do this?  Darryl had a fellow RA decide to do the program a couple of years back.  His friend came back and told him what an impact he felt like he was making.  So early last fall, Darryl started the application process.  “Every step I took, I got more and more interested,” stated Darryl.  Both of Darryl’s parents are also educators, his mother is a second grade teacher, while his father teaches ROTC.  They both teach in Matthews, NC where Darryl grew up.  At first Darryl’s parents were concerened about his decision, but after an article was written in the News and Observer on March 27^th, they realized that what their son was embarking on was quite an honor.  You see, there were 12,000 students who applied for Teach for America, but only 1,700 spaces were available for teachers this fall. 

The interview process for Teach for America was very intense with each applicant going through a group interview process.  This isn’t a typical group interview though, with the applicant on one side of the table and the interviewers on the other.  A group of applicants discussed various topics while the interviewers were in the background listening to their comments.  In the second phase Darryl had to teach a five minute class.  It could be on a topic of his choice, so Darryl’s class took place during the Wednesday of weather week and his topic was “Wind.”  The last part of the interview was a role play where Darryl had to explain to his principal, why his students needed to take field trips even though the budgets had been cut for such activities.

Darryl’s science and math background along with his leadership role as NC State University’s Student Body President, will only be an asset to him.  Darryl says, “my textile background sets me up well because I will be able to effectively teach science and math in the classroom.”  Darryl visited a school in the Mississippi Delta this past January to see first hand what the experience might be like.  Darryl said right away that there was a connection with the students.  They would stop him in the hall and ask him to please come back to teach.  The short experience confirmed to him that he had made a good decision.

Upon finishing his two year stint his plans are to remain in the teaching field either by being in a classroom or working on after school or extra cirrcular programs for children.  But at the moment he is glad to be holding a diploma from the College of Textiles and he is looking forward to the rewards he knows he will have in the Teach for America program. 

Graduating Seniors Daryll Willie and Win Ly posing for their senior class picture at graduation on

May 18, 2002.