January 28, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After graduation this May, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Honors Program students and seniors Lindsay M. Swain, 22, of Gardendale, and Christopher D. Watson, 21, of Dothan, will postpone graduate school to spend the next two years teaching in rural and inner city public schools.
Swain and Watson have been selected for the highly competitive Teach for America program. Teach for America is a national corps of outstanding recent college graduates and professionals of all academic majors and career interests who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunities. Swain and Watson will begin teacher training in June.
Swain is majoring in Spanish and international studies with a concentration in Latin American studies. She will teach social studies to either elementary or middle school children in the Rio Grande Valley area in Texas. Swain is the daughter of Kathy and Jeff Terrell of Gardendale.
Swain says she will attend graduate school after her two years of service to study public affairs or development. She plans to pursue a career working with education or non-profit organizations.
Watson, a biopsychology major with minors in chemistry and health sciences, is one of 50 applicants selected as a Teach for America 2008 Amgen Fellow. Amgen Fellows are math, science and engineering majors who most exemplify the criteria Teach for America seeks in corps members: critical thinking, achievement, organizational skills, perseverance and the ability to motivate and influence others to action.
As an Amgen Fellow, Watson will receive a $2,000 signing bonus and an all-expense paid trip in the spring of each year of service to the annual math and science weekend summit hosted by the Amgen Foundation.
The summit brings together Amgen fellows, Teach for America alumni in the math and science fields and various other professionals who are invested in issues relating to math and science education, health care, science and technology.
Watson will teach biology in Atlanta at either a middle school or at a high school. Watson is the son of Willie and Jacqueline Guilford of Dothan.
Watson says that following his two years of teaching he will pursue a career creating and implementing intervention programs and policies that address health disparities in Alabama’s rural communities.
This fall, more than 5,000 Teach for America corps members will be teaching in more than 1,000 schools in 26 regions across the country.
The UAB Honors Program, under the direction of Associate Professor Michael Sloane, Ph.D., provides gifted and highly motivated students with an intimate, innovative and challenging, interdisciplinary course of study.