Five Students Receive Education Pioneers Fellowships

Congratulations to the five students at Columbia SIPA who were chosen to receive Education Pioneers Graduate School Fellowships in support of their work this summer. They’re part of a group of more than 400 fellows chosen by the nonprofit organization, which works to improve education leadership and management at the school, district, and system level.

This year’s receipients are:

* Sarah Begeman MPA ’14,New York City Department of Education

* Flavia Bento de Faria MIA ’14, iReform, Inc.

* Jesse Corradi MIA ’14, Building Hope

* Nick Cox MPA ’14, New York City Department of Education

* Leah Verghese MPA ’14, Bridgeport [ Connecticut] Mayor's Office

Thanks to Verghese and Cox for sharing their comments:

The Bridgeport public school system, which serves around 20,000 children, produces abysmal outcomes in terms of academic achievement and retention rates. As a fellow, I work with the director of education and youth policy in the mayor’s office at Bridgeport, assisting the director with policy research and analysis, communication, and day-to-day operational work in the district. I hope to be able to combine the analytical and research tools I have learnt in graduate school with my first-hand knowledge of education policy and school systems to help improve student achievement in Bridgeport. 

— Leah Verghese

The fellowship, through working at the NYC Department of Education, helped me develop a more nuanced understanding of U.S. education reform.

— Nick Cox

From Education Pioneers:

Education Pioneers, a national nonprofit focused on transforming K-12 education into the best led and managed sector in the U.S., recruits top graduate students and early career professionals to improve leadership capacity at key education organizations. The Education Pioneers Graduate School Fellowship is an increasingly competitive program, with an acceptance rate of approximately 10 percent each year—equivalent to that of an elite university.

Graduate School Fellows work in critical outside-the-classroom roles at urban school districts, charter management organizations, and other education nonprofits.

As part of their Fellowship experience, students chosen for the Education Pioneers Fellowship will engage in professional development workshops that will deepen their understanding of the complexities of K-12 public education. After their Fellowships, more than 70 percent of Education Pioneers’ alumni in the workforce have chosen to work full-time in the education sector.

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