Name: Callie Taylor
Breakthrough Program: Philadelphia: GFS
Subject Teaching: 8th grade Reading
School Attending: University of Pennsylvania
Graduating Year: 2012 (rising senior)

The Philadelphia high school tier system is as foreign to me as the city was when I first arrived. My hometown of Portland had two options for high school: neighborhood public or private. If you did not want to apply to a private school or pay the tuition, you just went to whatever high school your neighborhood fed into. In Philadelphia, this process is much more complicated, lengthy, and difficult. Middle school students get one chance, one opportunity, to get on track to college or to spend the rest of their teen years fighting against the discouraging trend of dropping out.

After my first week teaching these students, I have seen what they are capable of and what their minds hold. Each of them has something unique to offer and each of them has dreams they would like to pursue. I believe that each and every person has what it takes to get where they want to go in life, but only some take initiative to use it. Our students at Breakthrough have that motivation and I believe this will help translate into getting into the college-bound track and thriving academically.

Any middle school student who will dedicate 2-3 summers to school and homework deserves what they want. A willingness to give up precious ‘fun time’ to get that much closer to their dreams is reason enough for respect and kudos. Early on, they are learning that to succeed they need to work, and this lesson will make achieving their dreams that much easier in the future. Breakthrough curriculum teaches important academic skills, it is true. However, I think the most important lessons that Breakthrough as an organization and us as teachers are giving the kids are much more abstract. In order to succeed in academically rigorous high schools, the most important thing the kids can learn is that you need to want it, you need to work for it, and you need to be willing to ask for help to get it. Through respect, fun, hard work and a love of learning, any of their dreams could come true.