Mia Stachura
Breakthrough Fort Worth
9th Grade Geography
The University of Texas at Austin, 4th year

When I applied to Breakthrough much earlier this year and then when I interviewed in March, I wasn't sure what I could expect. I've known many people who have been connected to Breakthrough in some way, but you can't really expect any of your experiences to be like theirs.

As we progress through our final week, I'm starting to realize how much I'm going to miss everything - the students for sure, but especially the teachers. I never would've imagined that I would grow to love this group of teachers so deeply. I started off this summer in a room of 25 strangers (plus three friends), and now, I have some amazingly wonderful friends. I figured we'd be friends to some degree, but I never expected to be so sad about not getting to see them anymore! It's incredible to look back and think about how much they've impacted me over the past 7 weeks (8, once this week is through). One of our teaching assistants asked my co-chair if we knew each other before this summer... we didn't. We've had such an amazing bond that would normally take people months and months to form; however, we've had this amazing summer to grow close and become almost inseparable. I never would've guessed that I could do that with anyone.

While my experiences weren't quite my expectations, this is definitely not a bad thing. In fact, I'd say it was a good thing! My expectations weren't set anywhere in particular, but this summer and my time with my fellow teachers has been extraordinary, and more than I could've ever imagined. I feel like going in with few expectations about the summer let my summer continue as it pleased... and it turned into one of the most amazing experiences I could have never imagined.