Jill Nichols never imagined she would spend the year after graduation teaching ethnically diverse inner-city Chicago children the wonders of an ecosystem.

Nor did she think she would love it.

"I didn't expect to get as attached to the students as I did," said Nichols, a 2003 MSU graduate. "I want to be there for them because a lot of the time, they don't have an adult's support. I never thought I would want to be a teacher, but now I love it."

MSU seniors from diverse academic backgrounds gathered in the Business College Complex last week and Wednesday night in Berkey Hall to meet with Teach For America recruiters and participants.

Teach For America takes recent college graduates with varying academic degrees and places them in urban or rural areas nationally where teachers are needed the most. The members teach for two years, earning teaching certification as they educate.

"They assume tremendous responsibility right after college," said Bradley Leon, Teach For America recruitment director for the Great Lakes Recruitment Team. "Nothing I did was more exhilarating, exhausting, challenging and impactful as what I was doing in a classroom for two years."

Teach For America participants also set themselves up for success because top law, business and medical schools prefer Teach For America teachers, Leon said.

Nichols, who started her second year teaching environmental science and biology at Wells Community Academy High School in Chicago this fall, said her students' cultures, mostly Latino and African American, were new to her at first.

"When I started, I felt really bad because I couldn't pronounce some names right, but I learned more about the culture," Nichols said. "My students had their own expectations of a young, white woman, and I wasn't what they expected. They used to ask if I was a light-skinned Puerto Rican, because I didn't fit their expectations of a white person."

The misconceptions some people have about urban children's academic ability are wrong, but outside forces can affect their schoolwork, Nichols said.

"My students are very bright and capable, but they can bring a lot of baggage into the classroom," Nichols said. "I have kids who've seen people killed in front of them or have seen serious fights. It's hard to say, 'let's learn about desert biodomes,' when a student's friend was shot the day before."

Not only is the lifestyle new, Nichols teaches at a school different from the high school she attended.

"The building closes at 6:30 (p.m.)," she said. "There are metal detectors and kids must be escorted to the bathrooms by a security guard. All but one of the bathrooms are locked. But we have really talented teachers who are working hard to change this district."

Adam Stephens, a 2003 MSU graduate, said he became more than a teacher to his special education students in Houston.

"Probably 60 to 80 percent of my students don't have a positive male role model at home," Stephens said. "Sometimes I was a role model, mentor and dad, as well as a teacher.

"It's a lot of pressure, but it's totally worth it."

Stephens, also in his second year of teaching, said the community's focus is not always on education.

"These kids' parents worry about their next meal, not their kids' homework," Stephens said. "It's a different mindset there - they are focused on survival. It makes it hard for them to be involved in their kids' education."

Brent Bushey, a 1999 MSU graduate who taught high school special education in New Orleans, said his experience also opened his eyes to problems.

"Teach For America broadened my horizons," Bushey said. "I had never been in a low-income community before. It also solidified my belief that students can learn, and the largest barrier is low expectations. My students could go to school every day for six years and not graduate because they didn't earn credits."

Leon said at MSU last year, 123 seniors applied for Teach For America and 26 were accepted into the program, making the acceptance rate higher than the national average. The 21 percent acceptance rate compares with those of Harvard or Yale universities.

He added that Teach For America looks for seven factors when weighing applicants: achievement, personal responsibility, ability to influence and motivate others, critical thinking skills, organizational ability, respect and humility and a fit with the mission, which is to end educational inequity.

"They're measured in many ways, so there are a lot of different ways applicants can prove themselves," he said.

After acceptance, recruits attend a summer training program for five weeks, then go to their assigned regional sites for local orientation.

Members can choose to teach in 21 urban and rural areas in the United States. Last year, 96 percent were placed at one of their highly preferred sites.

The goal and the benefits of the program are reasons to get involved, said Anna Lutey, Teach For America campus campaign manager and interdisciplinary studies in community relations senior.

"Teach For America is such a great opportunity," Lutey said. "This is our generation's chance to make a difference. The core of our nation is education, and the one thing our country should guarantee is the opportunity for an excellent education.

"You gain so many skills and it's a great networking tool, because so many outstanding seniors are recruited."

Teach For America members choose the subject and grade level they would like to teach based on their own preferences.

"I'd like to teach middle school social studies, because I think that's the best place to tell people why things are the way they are and give them incentive to change things," said Matt Partridge, education senior and Teach For America applicant. "I want to do this to hopefully make the world a better place. I know it's cheesy, but that's the goal."

Stephens' goal is similar: He wants to make an impact and work with children who need his help.

"It's really unfair that where you grow up determines where you go in life," Stephens said. "It is unfair that by third grade, students in low-income communities are three grade levels behind and seven times less likely to graduate from college than those in high-income communities.

"Someone has to change that."