When Aron Olegnowicz-Cruz thinks about his future, he foresees getting his MBA and working in business. But for now, the 22-year-old works as a special education teacher at an elementary charter school in Columbus, Ohio.
Olegnowicz-Cruz is in his first of two years teaching with Teach for America , the nonprofit that recruits recent college grads to teach in underserved schools across the U.S.
Olegnowicz-Cruz, who studied political science and psychology at the Ohio State University and took a pre-MBA summer fellowship at Harvard Business School, hadn’t planned to teach. Then he learned about TFA from through the Association of Latino Professionals for America.
He learned that taking a teaching job today could help him achieve his personal and long-term career goals.
A teaching job with financial and work-life stability
TFA has its fair share of critics, including those who say it fails to help low-income students access qualified teachers, and that corp members’ two-year commitments accelerate turnover in areas that need stability. Meanwhile, supporters say the program brings people from elite backgrounds into the classroom and can encourage a new wave of leaders to join the education system overall.
Teaching isn’t exactly a low-stakes profession: It’s notorious for its low pay, burnout rates and staff shortages.
For its part, TFA has worked to address common challenges and appeal to Gen Z college grads, who like Olegnowicz-Cruz are increasingly concerned about their post-college financial stability and work-life balance while making a meaningful, positive impact early in their careers.
Though he had the option to teach in Miami or New York, Olegnowicz-Cruz was happy to learn that he could stay and teach in Columbus, where he says having friends and family nearby have helped him avoid the post-college isolation of moving to a new community.
Plus, he says his $49,000 yearly starting salary helps him live comfortably there, whereas he felt the local pay in pricier cities wouldn’t have stretched as far.
“I am a big advocate of diving into the unknown and the thrill of meeting new people in a new chapter,” he says. “But I also understand that in the undertaking of a job as emotionally demanding as teaching, especially in an underserved school, I wanted to make those factors a little bit easier on myself and stick with something that would bring me comfort.”
Olegnowicz-Cruz began TFA training last summer to develop instructional skills and completed an onboarding intensive at his placement school prior to working with students. He meets the requirements set by the Ohio State Board of Education and is licensed to teach special education.
His day-to-day
Olegnowicz-Cruz gets to school by 7:30 a.m. every day to prepare for classes starting at 9. Throughout the day, students visit his classroom for one-on-one specialized sessions to work toward their learning goals, whether it’s learning how to read or better understanding the math lessons their general education classroom is learning.
Olegnowicz-Cruz also visits some students in their classrooms throughout the day to provide individualized instruction to students alongside their general education teacher.
He sees a handful of students every day, with breaks to supervise recess, until class dismisses at 4:15 p.m. He spends the rest of his afternoon lesson-planning, holding meetings with teachers, reaching out to students’ families, and overall keeping track of the progress his students are making. It’s a “lucky” day when he can leave school by 6 p.m., when he says a visit to the gym helps him physically and mentally decompress.
The biggest challenges of his job are things beyond his control, like when students arrive late to school because of unreliable transportation issues. His schedule, while blocked out for every minute, must also be flexible to fit in students who arrive late or have to move their session with him to another time.
For every challenge is also a bright spot, especially one-on-one reading sessions with his students, who range from 4 to 10 years old, Olegnowicz-Cruz says: “That’s got to be the most emotionally rewarding part of the job, is teaching kids how to read.”
Making an impact
Ultimately, Olegnowicz-Cruz says he’s inspired to teach thinking about how supportive teachers shaped his own life. Olegnowicz-Cruz was born in Mexico and moved to Ohio when he was young; he learned English through public school and was encouraged to take on leadership roles through extra-curriculars, eventually acting as president and founder of multiple student groups in college.
In the same way, Olegnowicz-Cruz hopes to inspire his students to work hard and hold high expectations for themselves to set and achieve their own goals.
By the end of his time as a corp member, Olegnowicz-Cruz will receive a $13,000 education stipend from AmeriCorp and TFA, which he’ll apply toward earning his MBA or pursuing a year-long masters degree in leadership through program in China. He’s also been offered a business consulting internship in Washington, D.C., for the summer.
As for his future in business, Olegnowicz-Cruz is most interested in economic development and supporting access to high-quality education across the global south, including across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
“The job that I have right now is super rewarding,” he says, “and I know that everything that I’m learning, not just in terms of organizing my day-to-day, but stakeholder management, working with data, all these transferable skills are a big asset to where I want to go and the impact that I want to drive on a systemic level.”
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