In Teach for America, Charlie Sedlock ’21 Will Help Build Equity in Education

Charlie Sedlock '21
Listen

Charlie Sedlock ’21 will continue to be in the classroom on a daily basis this fall.

But, not as a Babson College student in Wellesley, Massachusetts, nor as part of a graduate program. Sedlock recently earned an appointment to the prestigious Teach For America program. He will be working in Richmond, California, just north of Oakland, educating and mentoring underprivileged students “who are brilliant, have more potential than me, and have the world at their fingertips.”

“If someone wants to talk about the world, I want to create a space where they can share their experience and apply it,” Sedlock said.

Inspired by Inclusion

Sedlock is familiar with growing up in a challenging school environment. Raised in Kansas, he was the only Jewish student in his class.

“Living there is different,” he said. “It’s conservative, socially, politically, religiously. I never felt like I could be who I wanted to be.”


“I don’t feel like it’s giving back. I feel like it’s a community’s return on investment.”
Charlie Sedlock '21

In addition to education, his gateway from the Midwest to Massachusetts and Babson was through being a resident assistant, where he has fostered a community of emotional, mental, and physical well-being. While Sedlock’s passion for education stems from his mother, who grew up in a single-parent Bronx household, his desire for diversity, equity, and inclusion is traced back to Michael Lara, the assistant director of Multicultural and Identity Programs at Babson, who hired Sedlock as a resident assistant in 2018.

“Charlie just has a good soul. He genuinely cares about other people, about inclusion, about the community,” Lara said. “Teach for America is lucky to have him.”

Sedlock also expressed gratitude to both friends and faculty.

“There are so many here at Babson who helped make this opportunity possible,” he said. “This would not be complete without acknowledging Marjorie Feld and Kevin Bruyneel for their academic creativity, and Natalia Castellanos ’21 and Linh Ha ’21 for their constant energy.”

An Energizing Career

Teach for America strives for education excellence and equity for under-resourced children who grow up within disenfranchised communities. Of the 1.3 million students who drop out of high school in the United States, more than half are students of color, and the majority come from low-income families.

Students such as  Sedlock are placed in these communities for appointments of two years with the mission to establish a more fair learning environment.

“I wanted work to be something I look forward to, something that energizes me,” Sedlock said, reflecting on why he became a teacher.

Charlie Sedlock '21
Charlie Sedlock ’21

Teach for America’s rigorous application process includes a sample teaching lesson, a case activity related to eliminating racial discipline disparities, and personal one-on-one interviews. It culminates with just a handful of selections.

“I don’t feel like it’s giving back. I feel like it’s a community’s return on investment,” Sedlock said. “There’s nothing to give back that wasn’t originally given to me.”

Once he’s teaching in person, Sedlock envisions himself riding his bike or Bay Area Rapid Transit to his soon-to-be assigned school every day.

“I don’t expect it to be easy. It’s going to be a technological endeavor with 24 young minds, entirely online or in a hybrid setting, but I’m up for a challenge,” he said. “These students are left with the task of growing up fast. I want my classroom to be somewhere where they’re allowed to be curious young individuals.”

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

More from Community »

Latest Stories

Split image featuring Diana Hechavarria sitting on a couch to the left and smiling with the Babson College DIRI sign featured on the right.
Diana Leads Diana: Meet the New Faculty Director of the Diana International Research Institute Babson Professor Diana Hechavarria takes the reins from Professor Candida Brush, who co-founded the world-renowned research institute.
By
October 17, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Babson student introduces herself at Cleantech Open.
Driven to Innovate, Babson Entrepreneur Reimagines Energy Use in Trucking Lassiter Foregger ’27 turned curiosity into innovation with her energy-efficient diesel trucking startup, earning her a spot at the Cleantech Open.
By
Hillary Chabot
Writer
Hillary Chabot
Hillary Chabot is a writer for Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. An award-winning journalist, she is known for her insightful reporting and dedication to detailed storytelling. With a career spanning over two decades, she has covered a wide range of topics, from presidential campaigns and government policy to neighborhood issues and investigative series. As a reporter for The Boston Herald, Hillary earned a reputation for tenacity and integrity. Her work at Babson College fuels her passions—to learn something new every day and conduct thoughtful, empathic interviews. She’s thrilled to be at Babson College, where students, faculty, staff members and classes provide compelling copy daily.
October 16, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Two students walk down a hill on Babson’s campus
Ups and Downs: Life on the Rolling Campus of Babson For students, staff, and faculty, the College’s rolling campus is an everyday part of the Babson experience. Nestled among the woods, buildings, and playing fields, the College’s hills add a certain charm and beauty to campus.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
October 14, 2025

Posted in Community