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Corps Year: 2007 |
Describe where you live. What is your neighborhood like?
I live in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, on the venerated Lawrence Street, which is one of the finest streets in the city. Named after Cornelia Lawrence, its broad tree-lined avenue runs through the heart of East Rock, and includes the Wash Tub Laundromat, Mezcal Restaurante Mexicano, and my apartment. East Rock (the neighborhood) is home to the majority of New Haven corps members, who share the area with a mix of young professionals, families, and Yale graduate students. East Rock is located just northeast of Downtown, and is home to the largest high school in New Haven (Wilbur Cross), the Yale Peabody Museum, and the neighborhood's namesake - the actual East Rock landform. East Rock (the rock) is a 300 foot ridge that serves as a popular recreational destination with driving and hiking trails and spectacular views of the city.
How long did it take you to find housing after placement?
Owing to its large population of graduate students, housing turnover in East Rock is high and housing is fairly easy to come by. Craig’s List contains an extensive listing of housing options, and I was able to find housing within a couple of days. I live with two other corps members, but housing is affordable enough that corps members who desire to live alone are able to do so.
What do you like most about living in Connecticut?
New Haven has a number of cultural attractions afforded to it as the home of Yale University, and I greatly appreciate that its compact city plan makes walking around downtown easy. There is a diverse variety of restaurant and night-life options, so I rarely find a need to leave the city. I do occasionally like to explore other options and New Haven's proximity to nearby major cities makes day or weekend trips easy. New York City is under two hours away by commuter rail, and Boston is about two hours away by car. Groups of corps members frequently plan weekend trips to these cities.
What does the achievement gap look like in your school?
I'm a high school math teacher and I am able to see the academic achievement gap reflected in my school's state assessment scores in math. At my school, only 49 percent of students scored "proficient" or higher on the math section of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, compared to 98 percent in the affluent suburb of New Canaan. This statistic is accentuated further by the fact that students were required to score only nine out of 48 points, which is 19 percent, on the exam to reach “proficiency.” To reach the "advanced" level, students had to score 36 out of 48 points. In the last two years, only one student at my school has scored "advanced".
What do you think is the greatest misconception people have about Connecticut?
Throughout institute, whenever I told corps members from other regions that I was teaching in Connecticut, the immediate response was, "Connecticut? Really? Do we need Teach For America there?" As corps members in the region, we know the answer to be a resounding yes, but many invidiuals outside of the are often have misconceptions of the region based on portrayals of the affluent areas of Connecticut depicted in popular media. Most people are shocked to hear that Connecticut has the largest achievement gap in the country, and that nearly one third of Hartford's residents live under the poverty line, giving it the second highest poverty rate in the country.
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