By Dumeetha Luthra
BBC News, New York
In the entrance to Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies there are metal detectors and posters listing banned items - guns, knives and so on.
These are from the troubled times of the 1990s, but the South Bronx is still rife with crime and poverty and each morning the students go through the airport-style security.
It is here that Jack Soltysik decided to spend his first year after graduating from Missouri University with a liberal arts degree.
"I was drawn to do something tangible to combat a big social problem in our society today which is the achievement gap," he said.
"Students in these communities don't get the kind of education that I got in the community I grew up in."
History quiz
He is one of many American graduates who are choosing this route as they ponder their future.
Teach for America has had a record number of applications for its programme with a jump of 37% from last year.
"I'm only 22 so my options are open"
The organisation places graduates in deprived schools around the country for a two to three-year term.
The South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the country where 50% of residents live below the poverty line.
In the classroom, Jack is teaching history. A quiz has them raising their hands over the Cold War and the potato famine.
'Boot camp'
At 22, Jack has not decided what he wants to do after his stint here, but the programme has provided another possibility.
"I don't think I would have gone into teaching if it weren't for Teach for America.
"TFA allowed me to get into the classroom without having to go through a two-year masters programme. TFA has four rolling deadlines each year.
"They put me into a boot camp before I start teaching and they allow me to hit the ground running. A traditional approach would have deterred me."
It is this very flexibility that makes the scheme so attractive to young people considering their future.
Options
TFA is the number one employer on many college campuses this year. A record 27,000 graduates applied for 3,700 positions.
Nicky Bowen is one of them. She just graduated from Princeton and goes into the classroom in September.
"I'm only 22 so my options are open. This is going to lead me onto staying in education or trying something completely different.
"I didn't want to go straight into grad school. I think this is a great way to begin to think about a career."
Meredith Boak is a senior recruiter for TFA, and went through the programme herself.
"The leaders of our generation want significant responsibility. At entry level this allows you to be a leader, the leader of a class: you set the expectations."
That sense of social responsibility motivates a lot of applicants: a desire to bridge a widening academic wealth gap.
"That level of responsibility is an incredible opportunity. Those two combinations are what appeal, on the one a chance to develop themselves, and then also fulfil an incredible mission."
'Temporary fix'
Teach for America's success is reflected in the amount of funding it gets from donors. This has tripled in just the past three years to $120m (£60m).
But it does also attract some criticism.
Jonah Rockoff is an associate professor at Columbia University, and has done some research around the issue.
"Part of the criticism of TFA is that it is a temporary fix," he said.
"One big issue they face is recruiting long-term teachers. People come in, do their two-year. There's never a large veteran staff."
But the engagement from the students that was evident in Jack's class is invigorating.
Many graduates do stay on in education after their stint is over. TFA says two thirds of its recruits end up in the field at some level.
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