Will Hudson Selected to Teach For America

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Will Hudson, Hampden-Sydney College Class of 2014

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (11/19/2013)(readMedia)-- Hampden-Sydney College senior William David Hudson was accepted into Teach For America (TFA). TFA is a national teacher corps of college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years and raise student achievement in public schools. This elite program accepts only around 11%-12% of their applicants each year.

Disparities in education exist throughout the country - urban and rural, east coast to west, small towns and large. Teach For America provides an excellent education for kids in low-income communities. Although 16 million American children face the extra challenges of poverty, an increasing body of evidence shows they can achieve at the highest levels.

After graduation Will's assignment will be teaching music to K-12 in Mississippi. He has been playing classical guitar since he was 11 and can play trumpet and, he says, "a little bit of piano." During his interviews with TFA, he had to teach a five-minute lesson to the interviewers and the other applicants. In his lesson, he used songs to make his point about metaphor.

When he tutors students at Prince Edward Middle School through Hampden-Sydney's Mentoring Program, he uses music to make points about similes, metaphors, rhyme, history, civil rights, or social issues. Will says, "Music, for me, is interesting to use in lessons because it gives the students a creative way to think about a topic and gives them an opportunity to really listen to the lyrics and understand what the artist is trying to communicate."

At Hampden-Sydney Will has also served as a Student Court Advisor and as Editor of the campus literary magazine, The Garnet. He is a member of the Future Educators Club, the Pre-Law Society, the Board of Publications, Circle K, and the international honorary society in English, Sigma Tau Delta. During the summer of 2012, he studied Tudor-Stuart history and literature at St. Anne's College in Oxford, England. An English major with a minor in law and public policy, Will is a graduate of Tunstall High School and is the son of Chuck & Penny Hudson of Danville.