Paying It Forward: Group of graduating seniors to enroll in CPS teachers program

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - More than 80 Chicago Public Schools seniors gathered downtown at the Chicago Cultural Center Wednesday night to commit to the Teach Chicago Tomorrow program, putting them on the path to becoming the next generation of CPS teachers.

“My favorite subject is math, and I plan on being a fifth grade math teacher because I happened to have a very, very good math teacher myself…plan on following in his footsteps,” said Kenwood Academy senior Torrin Snow.

The students are paid throughout the program for summer internships, professional development, student teaching and more.

Lorielle Turner runs the program.

“The entire time they have the ability to earn and change their pathology for their families when it comes to being able to socially and economically advance,” Turner said. “It’s a larger impact  than just being in a classroom in your community. It changes their families, and it changes the world.”

In the four years of the Teach Chicago Tomorrow program, more  than 175 students from 40 different CPS schools have participated.

“For me, as long as I’ve been in school, it’s felt like an environment I want to be back in, especially breathing back into my own community because who else is better to do it than a product of their own environment,” Turner said.

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