“The group interview lasts for one solid day,” states Carter.   “Applicants from the same area meet for the interview. This includes team-building exercises, role-playing, essays, and discussion surrounding current issues relevant to the field of education.  Next, each interviewee teaches a lesson to the others, and then one-on-one interviews are scheduled. After this day, the last step is to obsessively check your email inbox for their reply on the pre-determined day.”

Although the exact location of her placement has not been secured, Carter knows she will be teaching high school English somewhere in the Black Belt of Alabama, in or around Selma.

“The Black Belt is the poorest region in Alabama and includes some of the most impoverished counties in the United States,” explains Carter.   “I do know that many of the high school students will be on a reading level that is five or, perhaps, six grades behind. I am tasked to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.”
Carter learned a lot about other cultures while in Boston, but she brought with her many good memories and lessons from Athens State. 

“Dr. Kevin Dupre was a big inspiration,” states Carter.  “Each class I have taught at Brandeis, I moved my students, just as Dr. Dupre had moved his at Athens State, into a circle. I heard many times the mantra ‘lifelong learner,’ but it was in Dr. Dupre’s classroom that I witnessed what it looks like when a teacher learns, experiments, and exhibits wonder alongside his students. In addition, Dr. Dupre believed in me, and that, alone, is the best sort of inspiration one can receive.”

“No matter the topic, I could always count on Olivia for provocative discussion,” states Dupre, an Associate Professor of English at Athens State.   “It is no surprise that Teach for America selected Olivia; on her own she's been doing what Teach for America recruits people to do.” 

Carter is thrilled to be returning to Alabama to do good work.  She had contemplated serving Teach for America on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, but jumped at the opportunity in Alabama so she and her husband, Athens State graduate Jon Carter, could be nearer to their families. 

Photo Caption:  Olivia Clayton Carter visiting the grave of Harriet Jacobs, an American writer who escaped slavery to become an abolitionist and reformer, in her nearby Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

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