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Taylor Myers
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Teach For America Welcomes Their 2025 Cohort of Teachers Through Summer Professional Development Series

North Carolina Teacher of the Year Offers Advice to New TFA Teachers

CHARLOTTE, NC, July 29, 2025— Teach For America (TFA) North Carolina is welcoming new educators to Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, and Eastern North Carolina this school year, where they will partner with schools to serve students. Throughout the summer, these extraordinary leaders engaged in TFA’s Pre-Service program, a multi-week summer training series that prepares first-year corps members to become effective teacher leaders. Corps members were celebrated at an induction event last night to culminate this experience and celebrate the beginning of the school year.

Pre-Service takes place over four phases. It begins with high-impact trainings in May and extends through corps members’ practicum teaching experience, which provides summer school learning opportunities to students and hands-on teaching experience to corps members. Summer learning is an effective means of slowing learning loss and helping students get to grade level, particularly in math, and has shown to be a successful academic intervention post-COVID. The program aims to develop corps members as teacher leaders, prepare corps members to provide students with a high-quality education, and equip corps members to pursue a lifetime commitment to advancing educational excellence.

TFA’s Pre-Service experience provides new TFA teachers with the opportunity to partner with veteran educators to develop their craft. Throughout Pre-Service, corps members build their understanding of and connections with North Carolina’s communities, schools, and students. “Our summer programming provides critical summer education opportunities to students, while helping our newest educators get to know the local community,” said Elizabeth O’Quinn, Chief External Affairs Officer for TFA North Carolina.

In 2024, the North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association (NCSSA) reported over 8,000 vacancies in North Carolina schools during the fall. TFA North Carolina recognizes the urgency of this challenge and is addressing it by helping fill these vacancies through its corps experience, bringing high-quality leaders into classrooms across the state. Nationally, TFA has grown from the 489 first-year teachers and small staff at our inaugural summer training in 1990 to a force of over 70,000 beginning teachers, alumni, and Ignite tutoring fellows. Today, thousands of leaders transform education and expand opportunity for all children right here in North Carolina from every sector and field.

Rachel Candaso offered the keynote address at yesterday’s celebration dinner. She is a proud alumna of Teach For America and AmeriCorps. Rachel was recently named the 2025 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year because of the strong leadership she displayed in Pitt County Schools. 

Candaso advised corps members to remember “their why” and to be resilient. She said, “When you understand your core values, what kind of experience you want to create in your classroom, and how you authentically connect with others, you lead with purpose. For me, that meant holding firm to strong expectations for my students, even when it wasn’t easy. Resilience, to me, means standing strong even when it’s uncomfortable–especially when it’s uncomfortable. It means choosing what’s right over what’s easy.”

Candaso welcomed corps members into TFA’s “lifelong movement.” She noted that, “before alumni-hood, you will first lead through the sacred work of teaching.  Leaders like us begin this work with a commitment of at least two years of teaching in an under-resourced urban or rural public school.”

Candaso continued, “Then, that two-year teaching commitment will be followed by a lifelong pursuit of “One Day” through strong child-centered leadership in every industry. No matter what comes after your corps commitment, you will continue to have a responsibility to give back the gift and make systems work better for everyone, especially the students we serve as TFA teachers.”

Teach For America staff and educators are available for interviews. Click here to view Candaso’s complete remarks.

About Teach For America

Teach For America works in partnership with communities across the country to reach One Day when every child has access to an excellent education. Founded in 1990, Teach For America finds, develops, and supports a growing network of leaders who expand opportunity for children from classrooms, schools, and every sector and field that impact a young person’s education. Today, Teach For America is a force of over 70,000 alumni, corps members, and Ignite fellows working in pursuit of profound change so that one day every child has the opportunity to learn, lead, thrive, and co-create a future filled with possibility. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads.