Nicholas "Nick" Oviedo didn’t always want to be an educator. After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in journalism, he spent a year working for the NBA in New York before he felt a pull to return to Phoenix.

“I found myself wanting to be in Phoenix and wanting to do something that had a positive impact on the community that I love,” he says.

So in 2009, Nick joined Teach For America as a corps member at Amy Houston Elementary in South Phoenix.

Today, he works as the director of research and assessment for the Roosevelt School District, where he served as school principal for four years.

He says he draws on his corps experience often when facing challenges in his current role. Just as he did as a first-year teacher, he says he has to “learn and do at the same time.”

Nick is one of many Teach For America alumni who joined veteran educators, school and district leaders, and community organizers collectively changing the systemic educational inequities far too common in areas like South Phoenix.

“I really rest assured knowing that there are people doing similar work to me in different parts of Phoenix,” Nick says.

Encouraged by the diverse network of TFA alumni serving in leadership roles throughout Phoenix, Nick can imagine a day when each student in the area is impacted by a TFA corps member or alumnus from kindergarten to 12th grade.

“It’s important for people to know that there are a lot of alumni in education in Arizona—I think more than people realize—in teaching and leadership positions," Nich says.

"TFA has led to a lot of people working in Phoenix who might not have otherwise and are still working in education. Including me."