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She thought she had it all figured out. Pursuing her bachelor’s degree in public relations at LSU and working as an intern in the university’s athletic department, Laura Vinsant had her sights set on working in sports administration after graduation. But a campus visit from the founder of Teach for America changed everything.
“Wendy Kopp came to LSU and talked about the incredible story of Teach for America’s founding and her deep belief that all kids deserve a great education,” Vinsant recalls. “That was when I learned that Teach for America had been in Baton Rouge since its founding in 1990. Hearing that story of her dedication and her resilience through so many challenges inspired me that this was a place where I could really make an impact.”
A native of Arlington, Texas, Vinsant signed on as a Teach for America corps member after graduation, committing to spend two years teaching in underserved public schools. Her assignments put her in second- and third-grade classrooms at North Highlands and Scotlandville elementary schools.
Read “Voices of Influence: Laura Vinsant”
for more of her personal and professional insights.
“As soon as I met my students, I knew that this was going to be the path that I would stay on,” she says. “And that’s true of most Teach for America alumni; 90 percent of them are not coming from an education background, but 65 percent of them will remain working in education after their two-year commitment.”
Vinsant moved from her second- and third-grade classrooms over to TFA’s recruitment team after two years, helping to fill the organization’s teaching roster with graduates of universities in Louisiana and around the Southeast. “I really noticed that the needs are so great, and I wanted to play a role in getting more leaders on college campuses involved in this effort,” she says.
After serving in a few roles with Teach for America Greater Baton Rouge, Vinsant became the region’s executive director in 2015. Her days are spent doing everything from offering career guidance to TFA alumni and engaging with local school leaders to connecting with financial supporters and spending time with the 40 corps members in this TFA region, all of whom she says are “really passionate about students and the work that we do.”
One of the most recent additions to Teach for America’s offerings is its Ignite Fellowship, which matches college students with elementary school students for one-on-one reading skills tutoring in a virtual setting for at least three hours each week.
By the next school year, Vinsant says more than 285 Ignite Fellows will be working with local students. “There’s lots of data that tells us that this is actually making a difference in students’ overall engagement in school,” she says. “Mentorship is built into it, and we’re really excited about that.”
Vinsant says the biggest challenge for TFA’s local region is the same one every other region across the country faces—and the very challenge that TFA sets out to address. “The need is so high, and there are so many vacancies compared to the number of people who are stepping into education,” she says. “No one organization is going to ever be positioned to solve all of that.”
But even as Vinsant guides the TFA Greater Baton Rouge team in taking on these trials, the memories of working with students in her own classrooms are what keep her going. “I got to see kids read sentences for the first time, and there is nothing more magical than that in my mind,” she says.
“Reading unlocks a lifetime of learning, and that feeling is the magic that I still hold onto whenever things may be challenging.”
