Many college students today want work that matters. They want to learn new skills, earn income, and make a difference at the same time. Yet the experiences that best combine those goals are still too rare. In education, where the need for both talent and innovation is great, a new kind of pathway is taking shape.
Teach For America’s Ignite Fellowship started as a pandemic-era response to learning loss. But it has become something more: a model that allows college students to “try on” purpose-driven careers through paid, high-impact tutoring. In the process, they gain experience, confidence, and leadership skills that last long beyond a semester.
Now in its fifth year, TFA Ignite connects trained college students with classrooms to deliver personalized, small-group tutoring that accelerates learning and fosters belonging. The model leverages evidence-based instructional practices and the power of meaningful relationships between tutors and students—a combination research has shown to be critical to academic growth. Fellows hail from universities and colleges across the country and are pursuing a variety of majors. They work directly with teachers to help students make measurable progress while developing skills in communication, teamwork, and empathy.
The approach not only meets an immediate need in our schools, but helps grow the teaching pipeline. Research from Stanford University shows that tutoring through Ignite nearly triples the likelihood of applying to teach in Teach For America’s corps program, and the impact is especially strong for students who had not previously considered teaching. Since its launch, more than 550 Ignite Fellows have gone on to join the corps, including 280 new teachers this year alone.
Ignite is not an internship in the traditional sense. It is a leadership lab that connects students’ desire for meaningful work to the tangible impact of helping children thrive. Fellows experience the joy and responsibility of shaping young minds while building professional skills that translate across every career field.
When students get to test what purpose looks like in practice, the experience can be transformative. Take Destiny Edens, who first discovered her love for teaching through the Ignite Fellowship while in college. She entered the program never having taught before and admits she was nervous at first. But with Ignite’s training and support, she found that confidence in the classroom comes from preparation. As she gained experience leading small-group sessions, she saw how deeply her students cared about learning and how much their progress depended on her effort. That realization sparked something lasting. Destiny went on to join Teach For America and now teaches middle-school science, determined to keep making that same kind of impact every day.
Stories like Destiny’s show how “try-on” experiences can help college students find their fit while addressing urgent needs in local communities. Schools report that 95%of Ignite partnerships improve student engagement and growth. At the same time, fellows describe stronger communication, adaptability, and leadership—the same traits employers across every sector say they value most.
The lessons from Ignite extend well beyond teaching. They point to how colleges, employers, and workforce programs can rethink experiential learning to develop leaders who are both skilled and grounded in purpose. Internships and fellowships can serve communities, not just companies. When students see their work improving lives, they gain deeper motivation and learning. Paid, mission-aligned experiences can prepare students for careers in education, healthcare, technology, or public service by developing human-centered skills that matter everywhere. And when universities integrate these opportunities into advising and career services, they help students match their ambitions to impact.
These kinds of early, purpose-driven experiences meet both a national need and a personal one, connecting learning to contribution and contribution to lifelong growth. As higher education continues to rethink how to prepare students for the future of work, programs like Ignite offer a simple insight: the best way to help students find purpose is to give them real opportunities to practice it.
When that happens, students rise and communities thrive, proving that the best internships are not just about careers, but about calling.
Aneesh Sohoni is CEO of Teach for America, where he started his career in education as a teacher. He also previously served as CEO of One Million Degrees.