Remembering Our Why
Five Alumni Look Back Ahead of the 35th Anniversary Summit
There is something powerful about receiving a letter from your past self. This fall, as part of the countdown to Teach For America's 35th Anniversary Summit in Las Vegas, alumni across the country opened their mailboxes to find a copy of the personal statement they wrote when they first applied to the corps.
For some, it arrived on an ordinary Tuesday. For others, it landed in the middle of a major life milestone. But for everyone who shared their reaction, one thing was the same: reading those words again, years or even decades later, brought them right back to the moment they decided to say yes. Here are five of those stories.
The Person We Became
For Lindsay Ahlgren-Blythe, the letter arrived like a message in a bottle. Her "Why" letter from 2008, written when she applied to join the Connecticut corps, was full of passion and determination, and by her own admission, a bit of naivete too.
Eighteen years later, she can say with certainty that joining that corps was one of the best decisions of her life. It set her on a path to impacting thousands of students across districts and communities nationwide, and it connected her with some of her closest lifelong friends.
Her message to fellow alumni heading to Vegas is simple: "Here's to the person we were, the person we became, and all the people we've yet to impact."
A Bear Hug From Her 20-Year-Old Self
Amber Orenstein Kreilein’s letter arrived during a week when she was already deep in reflection, taking a storytelling class at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She described the envelope as a bear hug from her 20-year-old self, one that brought her to tears before her morning coffee was even finished brewing.
She traced her whole path back to a single moment: a teaching assistant named Drew Williams Clark, sharing his own TFA story in an urban planning class more than two decades ago. Using maps and data, he showed a room full of college freshmen how policies like redlining had shaped the nation. Then he showed them they could do something about it. That moment sent Amber down the same path, into the Greater Chicago Northwest Indiana corps.
She asked her fellow alumni a question worth sitting with: "Would your 20-year-old self recognize who you are today?"
YOUTHFUL CONFIDENCE
Jin-Soo Huh’s reaction to his Why was equal parts nostalgia and appreciation for the campaign itself. Reading his statement again brought back memories of his initial plans for a career in policy, plans that shifted over time even as his commitment to education stayed constant.
He admitted to cringing a little at his own youthful confidence, including a description of himself as "a bouncing ball of energy." Now he is planning to spend some time before the Summit reflecting on why he is still connected to education all these years later.
Leadership as Mobilization
At twenty-two, Melissa Chapman Ait Belaid wrote about a basic call for revolution, convinced that education was about far more than what happened inside a classroom. She believed teachers could become leaders who moved into schools, communities, companies, and government, carrying firsthand experience with them to improve the systems around them.
Nearly two decades later, she is still asking a version of the same question: how do people take what they learn through service and turn it into the leadership our communities need next? Looking back at her original statement, she says her 22-year-old self would recognize that question immediately.
Her invitation to fellow alumni is a warm one: visit the LEE House while in Vegas, because your future self will thank you.
KEEP SHOWING UP
Colleen Smith Costello’s letter arrived the same week her oldest child started Kindergarten, a coincidence that gave her statement new weight. She expected to cringe as she read it again. Instead, she found it earnest, a little naive, and still very much aligned with what she believes today: that education is the greatest path to opportunity, that motivated people working together get things done, and that a good teacher can change the course of a student's life.
She taught for three years, spent three more on TFA's staff, and has spent the years since building programs that help employees around the world channel their own why into their communities. Her challenge to readers is a practical one: use your volunteer time, show up at a school, read with a student, or support a classroom through DonorsChoose.
Colleen will be cheering on the Summit from afar this year, but her message to the community carries the same spirit as the others: keep showing up.
See You in Vegas
Five different letters. Five different paths since. And yet the same throughline runs through every story here: a moment of conviction, a decision to act on it, and a Why that has stayed with each of them for years.
As the 35th Anniversary Summit approaches this October in Las Vegas, this is your invitation to do the same. Dig up your own personal statement if you still have it. Ask yourself what your younger self would recognize about who you are today. And then come celebrate 35 years of that collective why, together, in person.
See you there.