Over the next few months, here on Rhetoric Notes we hope to feature a few of our Rhetoric majors and minors.  We will share “email interviews” that consist of questions and answers with graduates, checking in with what they are doing, getting their perspectives on Wabash education, and reminiscing a bit about their Wabash experiences.

Our first alumnus profile on Rhetoric Notes is of Grant Gussman ’09.   Grant was an active member of the Wabash community with memberships including Theta Delta Chi, the Sphinx Club, the Thomas Riley Marshall Democrats, and the Parliamentary Union.  Grant was one of the most decorated forensics competitors at Wabash in recent years, winning top honors at both the Indiana State Individual Events Tournament and at the DSR-TKA national tournament.  He was also a Baldwin oratorical contest winner, a Moot Court finalist, and the 2009 recipient of the Joseph O’Rourke Jr. Award for the top senior project in Rhetoric (Gussman is pictured at right with Joe and Beverly O'Rourke).

TFM: Tell us about your decision to participate in Teach for America (TFA).

GG: Nearing the end of college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I seriously considered graduate school, but ultimately I decided to enter the workforce for at least a while to see how I liked it. I applied to TFA because I wanted to do some kind of service while simultaneously working and gaining experience. The program is a great way for recent college graduates to do exactly that—gain valuable real-world experience and give something back to the country.

TFM: Where have you been placed?

GG: I teach at Edna Karr High School. It's in a New Orleans community called Algiers. Prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it was a magnet school and was twice recognized as a National School of Excellence. Since the storm, we've changed to open enrollment, but our academic reputation is still excellent. Karr is recognized as one of the best public high schools in the city. Furthermore, we have one of the best football teams in the state, and our star quarterback (Benton "Munchie" Legaux) has been recruited by Michigan and Oregon to play college football. How cool is that? Go Cougars!

TFM: At Wabash you were a Rhetoric major and a Philosophy minor. Clearly we know that a Wabash education effectively prepares men for a variety of career paths, but explain how you are teaching Science and the training that has been involved in preparing to enter a high school classroom.

GG: Teach for America chooses what subject its members teach based on college transcripts. They tend to place a lot of people in high-need teaching areas, like math, the sciences, and special education. Once I was assigned a science position, I was required to take and pass the Praxis tests in science and chemistry in order to begin gaining complete certification and to be a "Highly Qualified" teacher under No Child Left Behind. Furthermore, I'm enrolled in a weekly 3-hour seminar that improves my content knowledge and helps me build my repertoire of teaching skills. This program allows me to teach with a Practitioner Teaching License, pending my successful completion of all the coursework. Then at the end of the school year, I'll be a fully-licensed teacher in the state of Louisiana.

TFM: What is your day-to-day routine like?

GG:  My day-to-day life is very busy. I'm up at 5:30 a.m., and I arrive at school by 7:00 a.m. every day.  I usually fine-tune and rehearse my lesson again in the morning and chug coffee to prepare for the students. School begins at 8:30. I teach 4 classes of 11th-grade honors chemistry and 2 sections of 9th-grade physical science, plus I have one planning period each day. School ends at 3:48 p.m., and I usually stick around for tutoring, detention, or just to grade papers. I'm usually out the door by 5:30. Once I get home, I finish whatever grading I have left and prepare for the following day's lesson. I’m in bed by 10 p.m. most nights! Teaching is definitely hard, but I love my kids, and it's incredibly rewarding.

TFM: So, you’ve started a debate program?

GG: Yes, I've started a debate team at my school. My principal OK'ed the proposal, and now I'm working on getting funding to join the National Forensics League. I was amazed at how many students are excited about the team--so many that, when it took me 2 weeks to get a meeting going, a few different students came in after school to make sure I hadn't changed my mind! The movie "The Great Debaters" definitely got students excited about the concept of debate. While I'm happy debate is currently "cool," I hope a lot of the interested students stick with the program for the long haul.

TFM: What do you like the most about your job?

GG: I like a lot of elements of my job, but I most enjoy when students really understand the material and come in for extra work or ask me to make things more challenging. Most students wouldn't dare ask such a thing, but I've had a couple kids who LOVE learning, and it's awesome to see that. I got one student reading Plato during the 2nd week of school! 

TFM: At the same time, I’m sure the job is not without its challenges.

GG: Well, I least enjoy that the majority of my students tell me Lil Wayne is the greatest musician of all time on a daily basis. Outside of that, grading is definitely a bummer. I know it's super important, but it eats so many hours each week that it's hard not to call that the worst part of the job.

TFM: How do you think Wabash prepared you for this experience?

GG: Wabash definitely helped me prepare for this. For one thing, getting placed in a discipline I didn't choose to pursue makes me really appreciate that I received a broad, liberal education. The science classes I took in college, though there weren't too many of them, have been crucial in me staying a step ahead of my students when I teach. One other thing Wabash has helped me with is that I really learned to be a better learner while at Wabash, and how to be aware of my own education progress. I've tried to weave this sort of meta-cognitive thinking into my classes, and the students seem to like it. I'm hoping to teach them to be better learners, on top of teaching them about atoms, chemical bonding, and stoichiometry.

TFM: Do you have a favorite Wabash memory?

GG: Guarding the Bell while I was a rhynie during my junior year.

TFM: What do you miss about Wabash?

GG: Something I miss about Wabash: This is intangible, but I really miss the feeling of Wabash in the fall. The weather gets cooler, the leaves start dropping, the trees are all bright. We have homecoming, the Bell game, pledgeship... 1st semester is a really special time at Wabash.

TFM: What sort of academic and extra-curricular advice would you share with current Wabash students?

GG: Grades are important, but there's a lot more to college than your GPA. It’s essential that you get involved on campus.  You're at a liberal arts college--you should expose yourself to as many new clubs and ideas as possible.

Thanks Grant and please keep us updated on your work at Edna Karr.