Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News

Former SGA President Emma Simson bowed out of office last April and seemingly fell out of the university's eye as she graduated and began the next chapter of her life.

Simson spent two months last summer in Philadelphia taking education courses and teaching summer school as part of her volunteer training for the Teach For America program. In August, she began a two-year stint teaching U.S. History and American government to 170 ninth and 10th graders at Bladensburg High School in Prince George's County.

Now, nearly a year after she advocated student issues as head of the Student Government Association, Simson is tackling the challenge of preparing tomorrow's college applicants.


The Diamondback: What has the Teach For America experience been like?

Emma Simson: Teaching is extremely difficult and challenging. But, I think it's been an incredible experience and I have learned a lot about our education system. While it's really hard and there's times when it can be overwhelming, I'm extremely happy that I did it.

DBK: Can you give us an example? What has been overwhelming about it?

Simson: It's so hard to understand teaching before you are actually doing it. When you're responsible for 170 students and helping them learn material, and I've been trying to take all of that while starting fresh out of college. It's just a very challenging experience.

DBK: Can you tell me a bit about the high school where you work?

Simson: Bladensburg High School is about 10 minutes away from campus. It's a very diverse student body. There are students from so many different countries. I have some students who have immigrated from Africa, from Central America, from South America. The students are from a wide range of backgrounds. Many of the students have never had a family member go to college, but some of them have. The average SAT is about an 800 for the school, out of 1600. It is a school that has a lot of potential and I think it's slowly changing and becoming a much better school.

DBK: You mentioned some of your students have immigrated from other countries. Education and immigration are two issues constantly under debate in the political arena. What has it been like to witness these issues at such a human level?

Simson: It's interesting because the Maryland General Assembly is looking at that legislation right now about whether students of illegal immigrants should be allowed to get in-state tuition. And a student from my school actually just testified before the Maryland General Assembly. It's one of those things where now being face-to-face with my students in the classroom, I see so much potential and want so much for them. So I really hope that the Maryland General Assembly will pass this kind of legislation because for many of these students they were brought here at a very young age by their parents, and now they want to do so much with their lives. They want to go to college, but there are financial obstacles to them going to college and I think it's so important that we help those students and provide them with opportunities to advance themselves and to help the country.

Continued...

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