Shaina Wilson

BA 2016, Spanish

Undergraduate Recruitment Director
Teach For America
Detroit, IL

Shaina Wilson is the Director of Undergraduate Engagement for Teach For America’s Midwest team. In this role, she partners with universities and student organizations to create events and opportunities that develop participants’ understanding of and ability to advocate for equity across all industries, especially in educational access. Shaina firmly believes that in bringing together leaders across all sectors, our society will dismantle the racist and classist systems preventing access to educational opportunity and ensure that one day, every child has access to an education that allows them to thrive. Throughout her time at Purdue, Shaina was involved in many campus organizations, including Old Masters, Boiler Tracks, College Mentors for Kids, and Women in Business. In learning about Teach For America (TFA) during a CLA career fair, she knew she had found an organization genuinely aligned with her values. As a first-generation college student from a low socioeconomic background, Shaina saw this work as the pathway to developing skills and connections to increase access to education for K-12 students from her shared experience. She returned to her hometown of Detroit to begin teaching 3rd grade as a 2016 corps member, where she developed her leadership identity both in the classroom and in the community. After becoming an alumna of Teach For America, Shaina continued to teach, obtaining her K-5 Teaching Certification through the University of Michigan. During this time, she realized she was most passionate about increasing educational access through organizational advocacy efforts and eventually returned to TFA’s National Team as a Recruitment Manager. She spent two years in this role, bridging connections between full-cycle recruiting and equitable application processes to recruit students passionate about DEI into becoming anti-racist educators and lifelong advocates for social change.