Seven Hang
Breakthrough Sacramento
University of California, Santa Barbara

When I applied to teach for Breakthrough Sacramento during their summer session, I was still interning with Breakthrough New York. I was having such an unbelievable experience at BTNY (kudos to the team: Mo, Nat, Rhea, Sika, and Winston) that I craved for more and more. The behind-the-scenes workload could only be revealed with an extremely simple expression, “WHOA!!!!”

I was fairly warned beforehand by those around me of the gigantic workload; however, I awaited the challenge and prepared to face it head on. Although I was entering BSac with knowledge, that later helped me develop, I was still stunned with the structure. I knew that working with any Breakthrough site meant that nothing was to be simple. Even explaining what Breakthrough is to a person typically requires an in-depth explanation or allowing yourself plenty of time to answer their questions.

In high school I was always the one frantically running around because I took up too many different tasks. I pictured myself this summer doing the exact same thing. Turns out, Breakthrough most definitely is not high school work. Before the students arrived, I thought that I would only develop connections with those in my classroom; however, when the summer ended, I shed a tear for every single student at BSac. Each and every one of them came into the program with an impactful story, strong, eager mind, and a restless personality that helped make this summer shine. They all have such potential to chase and achieve their dreams.

I never imagined that this summer’s Breakthrough experience would hit me this hard. I knew that it would make a large impact; however, it’s molded and touched me in SO many ways. It has been an unbelievably fantastic summer.