This article presents an interview with five teachers in an alternative certification program at a university in New York. All of the teachers were from the New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF) program, which is an alternative certification program in New York designed to quickly place teachers in high need schools throughout the city. The purpose was to understand the perspectives on teaching from a small group of diverse teachers in the NYCTF program. Black female, Black male, Latina female, and two Latino male teachers were interviewed, and it was found that all of the teachers indicated that their ethnic/racial backgrounds helped them to either connect with students or parents in the schools. Teachers commonly indicated student behavior and lack of resources as particular challenges in their schools, and teachers generally felt the greatest rewards involved student growth and achievement.