A real TEACHer
Though Phillips was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English as a foreign language in Taiwan, his deep "commitment to teaching" made him reconsider the advantages and disadvantages to participating in the Fulbright program. Ultimately, he declined the Fulbright in order to enroll in a Master's in Education program at Harvard University, deciding that this route would be more in agreement with the way he wants to enter the teaching profession. The program will allow him to obtain an advanced degree while, as he put it, "getting an introduction [to teaching] that feels most comfortable to me."
The program will place Phillips in a Boston-area school and pair him with a mentor teacher. Eventually, he will student teach by assuming several of the mentor teacher's classes. Phillips is excited about teaching in an urban situation-the setting that he would most like to teach in-and the gradual introduction to teaching that this program offers. Ultimately, Phillips is just "really excited about learning how to teach."
Amherst's influences
Phillips feels that his time at Amherst has prepared him well. "I am really, really grateful to have had the experiences I've had," he said, emphasizing that so many "have been enabled by the College." He has been fortunate to have had great teachers and coaches, all of whom have inspired his career. His mother is also an educator and has been a source of motivation.
In addition, he said that his luck in being one of Professor of English Barry O'Connell's advisees was important in the development of his teaching interests. Phillips took a few influential classes during his sophomore year, including O'Connell's Reading, Writing, and Teaching and two courses with Professor of Sociology Ronald Lembo: a class on social justice and an independent study on democracy and inequality. This course-load embodied the concern Phillips has about the effect that teaching has on social change and social justice.
Amherst TEACH, therefore, was the perfect organization for him, as he was "interested in a group interested in education." This semester, as the chair of Amherst TEACH, he worked on rearranging the structure of the group to include a steering committee and also has laid the groundwork for next semester.
President Anthony Marx's influences have also been encouraging. "President Marx's emphasis on the importance of public education has been inspiring to me and has encouraged me to pursue my own interest in education," said Phillips. "I'm really excited to see what role the College will play in strengthening public education, and I hope to help in any way I can."
Thus inspired to give a hand at teaching, Phillips participated in Summerbridge, a year-long teaching program with a six-week summer focus for junior high school students from a low-income background. Although it was a "really hard experience" and showed him "how physically and emotionally exhausting" teaching can be, it was intellectually stimulating and showed him the complexity of teaching.
Unsung hero
In addition to his involvement in Amherst TEACH, Phillips is well-known on the Amherst campus for his efforts to prevent the construction of a parking lot in the bird sanctuary last year, an effort that was partially initiated by his interests in education and social change. Since he was unable to run cross country and track last year due to an injury, Phillips was able to become more involved in various activities. His interest in this issue was originally sparked because the cross country and track teams on which he ran were concerned about the possibility of the destruction of the bird sanctuary because it is their main running location. Phillips and his friend David Molina '05 began to work out ways to avoid the construction of a parking lot.
Unfortunately, in the end, this plan didn't work, but the bird sanctuary was left unharmed and a parking lot was constructed on the tennis courts. Nevertheless, Phillips described this as a "really powerful learning experience" in terms of communicating with people and having to search for alternatives to a serious problem.
For now, Phillips is turning his attention toward teaching in an urban public school, though he may eventually decide to enter the field of educational research or school administration. Regardless of what he ends up doing, Phillips certainly will be making a difference somewhere-however, he probably won't be telling us much about his accomplishments.
"One of the most frustrating things about the guy is his aptitude for staying under the radar, despite the many sectors of the community ready to sing his praises-every once in a while I'd wish he'd just take a damn bow," said Molina. Molina added, in parentheses, "Perhaps the relative visibility of this article will coax him past the requisite blushing and head-shaking; Zeke, we really do appreciate all you've done.
"That being said, the man ... is an individual of amazing ability, and astounding sincerity," continued Molina. "I think very few people at the College-myself included-fail to grasp the scope of his talent, but, as Zeke moves modestly from one brilliant thing to another, I don't think we'll be too surprised to see him lurking behind the scenes amidst the greatest of things. And, personally, I'd like to see him caught blushing in the spotlight every now and again."