Alumni – Page 12 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

Everything Happens in Time

Ogechi Irondi, IRT ’20

In my culture names have meanings that oftentimes become what you strive to do within your life or, in some cases, who you become. My name, Ogechi, means “in God’s timing”. Outside of religion and spiritual belief, my name reflects what we all know: we cannot control when or how things happen in our lives. I have been intentional in living up to my name by letting go, leaning into uncertainty, and taking things day-by-day. My PhD journey is one that very much follows this idea. I first applied to doctoral programs in 2015 when I was a 5^th grade teacher. At that time, I did not know why I wanted to pursue a doctorate only that I should. I was running from a challenging work environment into what I thought was the obvious next step after reviewing a master’s degree. Thankfully, I was unanimously rejected from every school I applied to. Though I was heartbroken, I was given time to figure out what I wanted, what I was passionate about, why I cared, and what I wanted to do when I left the classroom. It was in those years that I truly developed and understood my “why”. Then, in 2020, during a global pandemic, I applied again. This time, I was accepted into two universities: one that I wanted and the one that I needed.

Ogechi Irondi, IRT ’20

NCORE New Orleans May 30 – June 3

35th Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity (NCORE) on Higher Education

IRT Associate Director and Manager of Programs Catherine Wong, IRT Arts and Sciences Specialist Brittany Zorn, IRT ’13, and IRT Education Specialist Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91 presented at NCORE in New Orleans earlier this month.

What is NCORE?
According to it’s website – “the conference series constitutes the leading and most comprehensive national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in higher education. The conference focuses on the complex task of creating and sustaining comprehensive institutional change. This change work is designed to improve racial and ethnic relations and their intersections with other issues and groups on campus. The conference speakers and sessions offer strategies for expanding educational access and success for diverse, traditionally underrepresented populations.”

Alumni Committee Update

Congratulations to Dr. Renée Wilmot, IRT ‘ 12, ’17! Renée successfully defended her dissertation entitled, Pilate’s Wine House: Reimagining Black Women Educators’ Histories & Futures, in May and earned a doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction & Teacher Education from Michigan State University. Wilmot also holds a masters degree in Secondary English from Boston College and a BA from the University of Virginia. Wilmot has been the IRT Alumni Committee Chair and an IRT Advisory Board student representative for the past two years. She has also served as a faculty member for the IRT Summer Workshop and IRT Curriculum Coordinator for several years. As Wilmot’s role of chair ends, she will begin an assistant professor position at Michigan State University in Black, Feminisms, Genders & Sexualities in the Department of African American and African Studies.

We are pleased to welcome Truth Hunter, IRT ’11 who will be acting as the interim chair. Truth is currently pursuing a doctorate in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Hunter also has a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from the university and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.

I am excited to serve as the interim chair for the IRT Alumni Committee because I truly believe in the mission of IRT, and if there’s anything I can do to give back, I want to be a part of it!
Truth Hunter, IRT ’11

Admission Season Perspectives

IRT Arts & Sciences Specialist Brittany Zorn, IRT ’13 and Education Specialist Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91 share their thoughts with IRT Scholars.

The first couple months of the New Year is always my favorite time of year- and no, it’s not because I’m an Aquarius Sun or because New England winters are the prettiest of anywhere (ok not JUST because of these things). The start of the New Year is my favorite time of year because it is admissions season!

For IRT scholars, the first six months of their IRT engagement is rigorous and time consuming; conducting school list research, making connections with graduate school folks, curating application materials, and crafting close to a dozen quality statements of purpose keeps scholars busy from June through December. Admissions season is the time when all that hard work pays off and scholars begin to see the fruits of their labor in the form of invitations to interview or visit campus and offers of admission. It’s always a season of some uncertainty and great celebration. The shock, joy, and relief that students often feel when the offers (and the dollars!) start to roll in is something I am grateful to share in each year.

While admissions season brings lots of exciting news, it also comes with a new set of stressors. Through the pre-application season, scholars are often most concerned with packaging themselves legibly to graduate programs- the emphasis is always on the scholar seeking approval (admission) from these graduate programs- but the post-application season introduces a new dynamic. Once an offer has been extended the power of approval (accepting an offer or not) is shifted into the hands of the scholar. After months of scrutinizing program websites, scouring faculty profiles, and drawing insight from one-to-one conversations so that they might be judged worthy of entry into a program, scholars are now faced with determining whether these institutions are in fact worthy of THEM.

IRT Alumni Committee Update, March 2023

On a monthly basis, the Alumni Committee meets to spearhead initiatives for cultivating community and building a more connected alumni network. Committee updates on upcoming events and any news related to this group is posted on the IRT Alumni Network – join today if you haven’t already to stay informed!

Gather & Grow: April 12th – 5:00 – 7:00pm EDT
This informal social event is hosted over Zoom where alumni can intentionally come together for networking, giving or receiving advice, celebrating achievements, lamenting challenges, and otherwise continuing to be in community together. You can hop in and leave whenever you need to, log in details are posted to the IRT Alumni Network or you can email the IRT to receive the Zoom link to join in!