For the second year in a row, Emily Gula has 24 children watching her every move. Like many other Penn State graduates, Gula saw a unique opportunity in Teach for America and is now teaching at an elementary school in New Orleans.

The program is open to students of any degree who are willing to commit two years after graduation to teaching underprivileged students at every level in public schools across the nation.

There are information sessions at Penn State between Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, and the application deadline is Feb. 18, 2005.

Teach for America's Mid-Atlantic Recruitment Director Patrick Pontius said Penn State applicants are accepted at about a 20 percent rate, while the rest of the nation's average is a 15 percent rate. "If the only reason you are going into it is to have a job, you won't be successful. ... You have to be committed to the message -- it takes so much time and energy, you won't be happy with the program unless it is something you care about," said Gula, a 2003 graduate.

She said that despite experiencing difficulties along the way, she has enjoyed the experience to work with kids and change some of the key education issues in this nation.

Gula, who received psychology and American studies degrees, said she became interested in the program through information sessions and classes on campus.

"I was a liberal arts major so I didn't really know what I wanted to do. ... As I heard more about the program, the chance to make an immediate impact really drew me in," she said.

Teaching is a mutual experience -- teachers learn as much from their students as students learn from teachers, Gula said.

"I've learned to be more flexible and understanding; I'm more able to roll with it now. ... Balancing and multitasking and paperwork has be come part of my daily life," she said.

Matt Thomas, a 2003 alumnus teaching in the Mississippi Delta region, said the program requires students to be "leaders, passionate movers and shakers [who are] into busting their butts to change things.

"It is hard. It is intense and it takes a commitment," he said.

Thomas said he could not really pick a single event that explained his experiences with Teach for America.

"I have had every experience you can imagine in the classroom," he said.

Melissa Reynold, a 2002 alumna teaching in Baltimore, said she realized the impact that teachers can have on their students, especially in low-income school districts.

"This is not a job for the faint-hearted. ... You need to be hard-working and interested in affecting social change to do Teach for America. It is so intense," Reynold said. "If you don't totally want to change things, you aren't going to survive."

Pontius encouraged students to attend upcoming information sessions.

"Educational equality is our goal across the nation," he said. "And we can realize that goal."