Connor shares how his career path was shaped by his connection to the close-knit alumni community in the Bay Area.

Q&A

What inspired you to join Teach For America?

I grew up in a family of educators, including my father who was the principal at our local high school. My siblings and I spent countless days as kids palling around the high school and hanging out in classrooms with teachers. Therefore, despite studying business, education was always something familiar to me and teaching was a profession I always admired. Some of my mentors at Notre Dame joined TFA after college, and after meeting other TFA corps members and alums, I knew it was a community I wanted to join after graduation.  Through the corps, I taught 7th-grade math at KIPP Bayview Academy in San Francisco. In my second year of teaching, I also served as Dean of 7th grade.

What's your favorite memory from the classroom?

I am still close with most of my former students and their families, and it has been exciting watching them progress through high school and into college. One of my favorite students is now at SF State, and I wrote her a letter of recommendation and helped her get scholarships. My son was later baptized by her father. He is a deacon at the Catholic Church connected to KIPP Bayview, bringing it full circle to where we all met over six years ago!

What do you appreciate about the TFA community?

I most appreciate the TFA alumni community. I didn’t know when I entered the corps how many lifelong friendships I would develop. There are over one thousand TFA alums in San Francisco. It is powerful to be part of a network of other curious, motivated folks who share a similar experience and a similar commitment to addressing injustice.

One piece of advice you have for our incoming corps of teachers?

Have fun teaching! Children are innately curious beings. They want to learn. It is on you as a teacher to create the environment where they are learning and therefore having fun. This is damn hard, especially as a rookie, but if you are willing to put in the work and build the relationships, there is nothing better!