UAB Honors Student to Join Teach for America Corps

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) University Honors Program student Hernandez D. Stroud, 21, of Huntsville, will postpone his enrollment in law school next year to spend two years working in an inner-city high school as a member of the Teach for America corps.

November 18, 2009

Hernandez D. Stroud. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) University Honors Program student Hernandez D. Stroud, 21, of Huntsville, will postpone his enrollment in law school next year to spend two years working in an inner-city high school as a member of the Teach for America corps.

Stroud has been selected for Teach for America, a highly competitive, national corps of recent college graduates and professionals who commit two years to teaching to help expand educational opportunities in under-served urban and rural public schools.

"A lot of people talked with me about Teach for America," Stroud said, "and over time I realized that the program applied to my lifetime goals.

"I'm really interested in the public education crisis," he said, "and I hope that through this program I can make a real impact for children in under-served communities and gain insight into the true problems. Having this experience will give me perspective."

Stroud, a history major, will teach social studies at a high school in Philadelphia for two years. He will attend an intensive training institute next summer.

"I'm excited," Stroud said. "I know that it will be an opportunity to experience something different, but I'm also realistic. I know that this will be one of the most challenging experiences in my life."

Stroud is a student in the UAB Multicultural Scholars Program and also is president of the UAB Undergraduate Student Government Association. He is the son of Hernandez K. and Bettie Stroud of Huntsville.        

About the UAB University Honors Program

The UAB University Honors Program provides gifted students the opportunity to learn within a community of committed scholars. Courses are team-taught by faculty in a thematic leaning environment in the liberal-arts tradition. Lively discussion, challenging readings that require critical thinking and a learning approach that asks students to think about issues from multiple viewpoints is a hallmark of this nationally recognized program.

Media Contact:
Gail Short
(205) 934-8931
gshort@uab.edu