As student recruiters with Teach For America, we have spent the past few months posting flyers, speaking to classes and hosting events to encourage seniors to apply to our program. Friday is the second application deadline, and we want to take this opportunity to clear up some misconceptions and explain why we believe in Teach For America.

First, some basic facts. Teach For America recruits college students from all over the country to teach for two years in a low-income community. We are looking for students who want to do something after graduation that matters, students who find it odd at best and cruel at worst that the zip code you happen to be born into determines the quality of your education – and thus your life prospects.

Take a second to think about how you managed to get to this university. Somewhere along your journey, there has probably been someone or something that gave you a boost that enabled you to get here. It may have been an inspirational teacher, a community role model, or simply an availability of books to read or science equipment to experiment with. Some way, somehow, you were provided with and took advantage of an opportunity that helped you get to college. The resulting college diploma will be your ticket to the world.

Consider yourself lucky. Low-income communities often don’t have the support systems or school supplies that are so abundant in wealthier communities. As a result, only half of students from low-income communities graduate from high school. Furthermore, only 10 percent will graduate from college.

You, on the other hand, are on your way to graduating from college, and we’re asking you to help another person do the same.

Ahnna Smith, a 2003 alumna who did Teach For America in Miami, tells a story about one of her first days in front of her third-grade class. She asked her students to write down what they want to be when they grow up, and Smith offered an astronaut as an example. A few seconds later, a girl in the front row raised her hand. “Ms. Smith,” the girl asked, “what’s an astronaut?” Smith said an astronaut is a scientist who flies into outer space. A few seconds later, the young girl raised her hand and asked in awe, “Can they really do that?”

We think it is unjust that the education playing field across the country is so uneven, and we want you to join us in the movement to balance the scales and to create a new reality in America, a new reality where all students know what an astronaut is and have capable teachers who can help them become one. To accomplish this, we need students who take lemons and make lemonade, students who, in the words of Robert F. Kennedy, “dream of things that never were, and ask ‘why not?'”

Students who are accepted into Teach For America can choose to work as close as Prince George’s County and Washington D.C., as far away as Hawaii or at 24 other locations in between. Accepted students also choose what they teach. Ninety-eight percent of applicants are not education majors and most do not intend to pursue a career in education.

All students who do Teach For America are fully trained and certified. The average starting salary for a corps member in an urban area is $36,000.

The next application deadline for Teach For America is Friday. The application consists of writing two one-page essays, submitting a resumé and filling in some basic information. You’ve done more work in less time before.

We hope you take advantage of this opportunity to do something meaningful after graduation. Please let us know how we can help you become a part of the movement.

This work is critical now more than ever, because somewhere there is a girl who doesn’t yet know she can be an astronaut.

Darla Bunting is a senior sociology major. She can be reached at darla.bunting@gmail.com. Kate Earnhart is a senior mathematics and education major. She can be reached at kearnhar@umd.edu. Brendan Lowe is a senior government and politics and journalism major and a former editor for The Diamondback. He can be reached at blowe@umd.edu. Matt Stern is a senior government and politics and English major. He can be reached at mstern2@umd.edu.