Several Teach For America alumni have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. The oldest international educational fellowships, the Rhodes Scholarships bring outstanding students from around the world to the University of Oxford. Each year, 32 Scholars are chosen from the United States to pursue two years of study in one of the many fields available at Oxford. All educational costs are covered by the Rhodes Trustees.
While extraordinary intellectual distinction is factored into the selection process, Rhodes Scholars are also selected for their leadership instincts and devotion to duty – characteristics reflective of Teach For America corps members. Following are profiles of a sampling of our Teach For America alumni/corps member Rhodes Scholars.
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Julie Mikuta | |
Jeremy Robinson | |
Rachel Mazyck | |
Scott Thompson |
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Julie Mikuta
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Julie is currently a Partner in NewSchools Venture Fund's West Coast office.
Julie began her career in education as a Teach For America corps member. After her time in the corps, Julie helped to find Washington D.C.'s SEED Public Charter School, interned at the White House Domestic Policy Council, and served on the D.C. Public Charter School Board's application review and monitoring teams.
Prior to joining NewSchools, Julie was Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at EdBuild. Additionally, Julie served as an elected member of the D.C. Board of Education from '01 until '04. During her time on the School Board, Julie worked as Vice President of Alumni Affairs for Teach For America, where she developed programming for the organization's 12,000 alumni.
Julie completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
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Jeremy Robinson
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Jeremy grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana and as a corps member he taught at Harper High School in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's south side.
After leaving Harper in '06, he enrolled at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he is currently pursing a master's degree in English language and literature. Upon graduation in the summer of '08, Jeremy plans to return to the classroom and resume his teaching career.
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Rachel Mazyck
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Upon graduating from UNC, Rachel joined Teach For America and moved to the Mississippi Delta. Her experiences in the classroom compelled her to pursue a master's in education policy and management from Harvard's Graduate School of education. At that time, she also applied for the Rhodes Scholarship, with an interest in seeing how the United Kingdom was addressing its own achievement gap.
Rachel is currently in her third year of doctoral studies at the University of Oxford. Her research examines how school choice policies work in practice for the African Caribbean population in Birmingham - England's largest school district.
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Scott Thompson
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Scott is currently in his second year of teaching at the Theatre Arts Production Company, a small middle/high school in the South Bronx. Scott is the teacher advisor for the school's Gay-Straight Alliance as well as the College Prep club. He began a Junior Statesmen chapter at the school which recently traveled to Washington, D.C. for a national competition. He also coaches the middle school boy's softball team, which won last year's league championship.
Next year, Scott will study for a master's of philosophy in evidence-based social intervention as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work.
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