For some students, graduation isn’t about getting a traditional job – it’s about a chance to help the community.

Students who choose to work for Teach for America, a national nonprofit organization focusing on eliminating educational inequity, commit themselves to teaching at low income schools throughout the country for two years.

“Students in low income areas don’t receive the same educational opportunities as students in high income areas,” said Monique Moore, TFA recruitment director for Georgia, in a telephone interview Tuesday. “The program is important because only about 50 percent of low income students graduate high school, and those that do are at about an eighth grade level.”

Taylor Sundius, a University graduate and 2008 Atlanta Corps member, teaches eighth grade at Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Atlanta.

“It’s amazing what my students have taught me,” Sundius said. “I’ve learned more from them than they’ve learned from me.”

University graduate Elise Baker applied for the program in 2007 and taught in southern Louisiana – about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge – until May this year.

She said her two years with TFA had a profound influence on her life.

“I had a student that, when I walked into the classroom, he was one of the most defiant students as far as behavior goes,” said Baker, who taught fifth grade and kindergarten. “He was on average, on a second-grade reading level and a third-grade math – and he was in fifth grade.”

Baker said that was just one example of the situation teachers face daily in low income schools.

“He was a challenge every day,” she said. “I really worked hard to not only show him that he could achieve, but also kind of devise ways for him to be himself and achieve.”

Baker said she tried to help the student by involving his parents, attending his football games, making him do his homework and staying after school to help him.

At the end of the school year, she gave an assessment to her students to gauge their progress.

“[He] grew three years in reading, and two and a half years in math,” she said. “And I remember asking him to meet me after school before he went to football practice, and he walked into the room and I had a little Excel spreadsheet and I sat him down and showed him, and he looked at me and he just started crying.”

She said going through such an experience was the reason she decided to join TFA.

“This was the tough kid who acted like nothing ever bothered him and that he was too cool for school,” she said. “And he was sitting in my classroom crying because he knew he had shown such tremendous growth. It showed me that if you show them they can achieve, they absolutely can.”

After her time with TFA, Baker decided to work in school administration, and is looking into opportunities for the upcoming school year.

“I saw the biggest breakdown occurring at the administrative level,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll make my difference that way.”

Students interested in applying for the two-year program can visit TFA’s Web site at www.teachforamerica.org. The next application deadline is Oct. 28.