Maurice Telesford, TAC '09, High School Chemistry

Facts:

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Maurice found that since high school, he's always enjoyed teaching. Whether it was giving swim lessons at a local pool, or tutoring other students during study hall, he's always been comfortable with helping people learn. When he got to college and began studying chemical engineering, he learned that a lot of underrepresented minorities did not complete their engineering degrees. This fact lit a fire within him that led him to feel a deep responsibility for addressing this issue. In the following years, after exploring possible solutions, he decided that he wanted to become a high school teacher to try to prepare more students for careers in engineering.

Shortly, after this decision, he started volunteering in a low-income urban high school near his university. This opportunity gave him a clear understanding of the magnitude of the responsibility of educators and cemented his decision to become a teacher. Since then, he spent a year teaching English in Madrid, Spain, and began the Teacher Education Program at HGSE. When he graduates in June, he plans to return to Detroit to begin his professional teaching career.

Inside Scoop:

"HGSE is a community of faculty, staff and students all committed to education I've been surprised by the diversity of interests and courses offered by the faculty at HGSE. One of the most stressful times was during course selection, because so many of the courses seemed interesting and highlighted areas of education that I hadn't considered very much before. Currently, my courses range from building school, family, and community partnerships to group learning. Not only are the faculty very much committed to using their research to actually impact the world of education, but they are also well versed in pedagogical practices that make most classes very engaging. Given the close proximity of our campus' buildings, I see my professors frequently in passing and they all know my first name. Simply put, HGSE feels like a small community of people who are all deeply interested and passionate about education."

"Thus far, I've most enjoyed learning about being an urban educator with a cohort of 40 other students who share very similar interests. There has been nothing more meaningful than the conversations, both formal and informal, that I have with other TEP students about our experiences, challenges and successes. They not only reaffirm my decision to become an urban educator, but also provide me with another perspective to be critically reflective about my practice. It is great to have so many people with different perspectives on the same interest. Our conversations are rich with dissension and realizations of new ideas and ways to approach problems. When I leave TEP, I will most miss having this 24/7 support group with whom I am growing and learning personally and professionally."