Program – Page 2 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

Thank you Alumni Panelists!

Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91 and the IRT staff would like to send heart felt gratitude to the 27 alumni who participated in 10 Alumni Panels this advising season. Your time and expertise are greatly appreciated, and your encouragement of the next cohort of educators is unwavering. Please know that your continued support of IRT as an Alumni Panelist is vital to future cohorts and the organization! Again, a million thanks!

Stay Connected. Pay It Forward. Get Involved with IRT.

Once IRT, always IRT.
As alumni of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, you know firsthand the power of community, mentorship, and shared commitment to educational equity. IRT is more than its programming, it’s a lifelong network of educators, scholars, and leaders who lift one another as we move forward in our careers.

Each summer, a new cohort of IRT Scholars arrives inspired, ambitious, and eager to learn from those who have walked this path before them. That’s where you come in.

We warmly invite IRT alumni to get involved as Summer Workshop Faculty and/or Statement of Purpose Advisors. These roles offer meaningful opportunities to reconnect with IRT, share your expertise, and make a tangible difference in the graduate journeys of emerging scholars. Whether you’re facilitating a workshop, offering thoughtful feedback on statements of purpose, or sharing lessons from your own academic and professional path. Your perspective matters! Serving in either role is also a chance to reflect, recharge, and reengage with the mission that brought us together. Many alumni have shared that returning to IRT renews their sense of purpose while strengthening the cycle of mentorship that defines our community.

“Chalk Talks” Series

IRT Alumni Come Together and Help Current Scholars During Critical Times

The IRT extended a warm welcome to the new IRT 2025 Cohort into its vibrant and dynamic community during the July Summer Workshop. The Summer Workshop is a major component of the IRT program, inspiring scholars to become future educators that PK-12 through higher education urgently needs. This year, the number of IRT alumni who came back to lend their experiences and insights during these critical times was phenomenal.

Heather Moore Roberson, IRT ’07 & ‘10, is a Co-Curriculum Coordinator for the workshop and hosted the “Chalk Talks”, a podcast-style series that is always engaging and insightful. The “Chalk Talks” delve into the complexities and nuances of graduate school life in today’s context. These sessions feature alumni and other higher education professionals. They share their research agendas, offer advice for navigating graduate school and the Academy, and discuss other relevant topics. The “Chalk Talks” are included in a content hub available to all current scholars as an integral resource to use as their own on-demand learning library; the topics and IRT Alumni speakers are featured below.

IRT Advising: Then & Now

Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91
Education Programs Specialist, Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

On June 2^nd, 2025, I began onboarding the 35^th IRT Cohort, which includes 135 Scholars! How time flies, quite literally. It was just yesterday that I found myself on the Phillips Academy campus as a senior planning to apply to a variety of graduate schools in two fields nonetheless – Spanish Literature and Higher Education (sound familiar?), and part of one of the biggest in-person IRT Summer Workshops ever held, numbering 42 individuals. I can tell you stories, lol!

While much has stayed the same, much also has changed as it relates to the IRT Advising program. A dedicated IRT team continues to support IRT Scholars every year as they pursue advanced degrees in the humanities, social sciences, math, and education, and the scholars’ camaraderie remains strong in a virtual world and in the face of great challenges to isolate us from one another. LaShawnda Brooks, Catherine Wong, and I serve as school list advisors and work closely with each scholar to create a well-rounded school list that supports the academic endeavors that each student plans to pursue, and one that considers their personal well-being and the political climate as well. It is no small feat to assist IRT Scholars in this new educational environment.

IRT Connects with Tomorrow’s Educators at Breakthrough Boston Collaborative Career Fair

by Catherine Wong, Associate Director & Manager of Programs, IRT

This August, IRT had the privilege of participating in Breakthrough Greater Boston Collaborative Careers in Education Fair at The Foundry in Cambridge, MA_, where we connected with over 80 passionate undergraduate Teaching Fellows exploring their futures in education.

Making Meaningful Connections

Catherine Wong, IRT’s Associate Director & Manager of Programs, represented our organization at this inspiring event. The afternoon brought together a dynamic community of universities, colleges, and educational non-profits with this year’s Breakthrough Teaching Fellows. These were not only undergraduate college students but also individuals who had completed Breakthrough’s rigorous nine-week pre-professional teaching experience, gaining hands-on expertise in student-centered education practices.