Run This Town: Reflections on Why Black Students Returned to Their Hometown to Teach

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Black Collegian Agency and Persistence in Postsecondary Learning (Table 8)

Abstract

The Grow Your Own (GYO) movement consists of teacher preparation programs that recruit students from local communities who are interested in becoming teachers with the belief that their connections will increase the likelihood of remaining in the profession (Gist, 2018). This qualitative study featured interviews with nine alumni of a scholarship-based GYO program that recruited students from high schools in an urban school district to attend a local university and ultimately return to their hometown to teach. Using the conceptual framework of othermothering (Collins, 2000), the study investigated the program’s influence on alumni’s professional lives. Throughout the findings, participants discussed what it meant to return to their hometown as teachers, including building community, establishing connectivity, and serving as role models.

Author

• Ian G. Bouie, Stockton University
  Presenting Author