the Fifth Circuit Mike Feinberg (Houston '92), KIPP Co-founder Bill Ferguson (Baltimore '05), Maryland state senator Smokey Fontaine (Baltimore '93), An American writer, music critic and editor James Foley (Phoenix '96), Photojournalist murdered while a prisoner of Isis in Syria in 2014 Nicholas Gilson (Nashville '11), Founder and CEO of Gilson Snow Peter Hermann (New York '90), American actor and husband of Mariska Hargitay Chrissy Houlahan (Philadelphia), United States House Representative from Pennsylvania Kevin Huffman (Houston '92), Tennessee State Education Commissioner from April 2011 to January 2015 Mike Johnston (Mississippi Delta '97), Colorado state senator Jason Kamras (Washington, D.C. '96), 2005 National Teacher of the Year Kevin Kiley (Los Angeles), United States House Representative from California Ezra Koenig, Lead singer of indie rock band Vampire Weekend Mark D. Levine (New York City '91), New York City Councilmember DeRay Mckesson (New York City '07), Black Lives Matter Movement activist and candidate in the 2016 Baltimore mayoral election Tim Morehouse (New York '00), Silver Medal winner in the men's saber as a member of the United States fencing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics Brittany Packnett (New York City '07), Black Lives Matter Movement activist and co-founder of Campaign Zero Michelle Rhee (Baltimore '92), Former Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools and founder of The New Teacher Project and StudentsFirst Alec Ross (Baltimore '94), Senior Adviser for Innovation for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sohrab Ahmari, Iranian-born American journalist Tony Vargas (New York '07), Nebraska State Senator, 2018 Presidential Leadership Scholars, and 2017 Ten Outstanding Young Americans Zeke Vanderhoek (New York City '98), Founder and Chairman, Manhattan GMAT; Founder and Principal, The Equity Project John C. White (2010), Louisiana state superintendent of education since 2012 Clint Smith (2011), Author and New Yorker Contributor Organizational growth Teach For America has witnessed sustained growth over the course of the past two decades. The chart below reflects this growth by highlighting the changes in various performance indicators. °FY 2013 was a shortened fiscal year as Teach For America shifted to a fiscal year based on the school year. FY 2013 began January 10, 2012, and ended May 31, 2013. Beginning in FY 2014, the fiscal year began June 1 and concluded May 31 of the following year Acceptance rate In 2013, the organization received its largest applicant pool to date, with 57,000 people applying to the program. The organization selected approximately 6,000 of the