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Babak Mostaghimi is a first-year Teach for America Corps member teaching fifth grade science and social studies at Shelby Middle School in Shelby, Mississippi. He was raised in Blacksburg, Virginia, and is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he received a BA in international relations and economics. While at Hopkins, Mostaghimi was involved in the Johns Hopkins Tutorial Project, an after-school tutoring program for inner-city Baltimore children, and in 2005 became a student director of the program. In the summer of 2004, Mostaghimi volunteered for two- and-a-half months at an orphanage in rural Honduras where he worked on orphanage development and education projects.
Click on the links below to read Babak's diary entries:
Why I Joined Teach For America
The more I contemplated my post-graduation plans and the more I spoke to mentors, family, and friends, the more I realized that TFA was more than just another job. It was a path that would allow me to directly address injustice in America. TFA would place me on the front lines of fighting educational inequality while granting me the unique opportunity to live in a completely new environment and to experience something that I would likely never pursue after law school. Above all, TFA embraced my belief that all people have an obligation to help their fellow humans in whatever capacity possible. My final decision came down to a fundamental statement that a close friend made one evening: "You could easily delay law school or consulting for two years without any repercussions, but ask yourself if your children could go for two years of their elementary education without a good teacher. The answer to that question is why I Teach for America.
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To be honest, joining Teach For America (TFA) was a decision that was held in the "far from likely category of what-ifs in the back-up plan section of my mind until the end of my senior year. While I had always had a passion for education and helping children, I was caught in the fast track towards law school and consulting. After confirming a consulting job offer and law school acceptances, however, I suddenly realized that I could not push TFA aside.
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