Breakthrough Manchester Update

College Bound: The Ultimate Goal

The results are in—100% of our Breakthrough seniors are going to college!

Although this is Breakthrough Manchester’s 29th year on the Derryfield campus, this is the first year we have a senior class to celebrate as part of the Breakthrough College Bound Program at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Breakthrough formed a partnership with SNHU in 2016 to create our College Bound Program and provide continued support for Breakthrough students during their high school years through college matriculation. With this pathway in place, Breakthrough students now have a seamless route from grade six to college.

The class of 2020 will be our first graduating class of seniors heading off to college. These nine seniors submitted 83 applications and received 63 acceptances! Most of these students will be the first in their families to attend college, with hopes of breaking the cycle of socioeconomic hardships, manual labor jobs, and language barriers. Among these seniors are amazing stories of grit and determination, as well as self advocacy.

Natalia, a senior at Memorial High School and Breakthrough School Year Teaching Intern, will be attending Providence College. At first, it seemed like Providence was not an option for her with the financial aid package they offered. With the empowering self advocacy skills she learned through Breakthrough, Natalia armed herself with facts and figures, and presented her case. In order for Providence College to be her choice for enrollment, they would need to provide more comprehensive financial support. The school reconsidered and offered her financial support which will allow her to realize her dreams—congratulations Natalia!

Kimiya, a senior at West High School, Breakthrough Student and 2020 Teaching Fellow shares, “Breakthrough Manchester taught me to appreciate education and use what I learn to help others. If it were not for Breakthrough, I would not have stepped out of my comfort zone. I learned that leaning into discomfort is what helps you grow and experience new things. Breakthrough guided me throughout my high school career and taught me that college is possible. I am excited to be attending American University in the fall!”

The potential of our graduating seniors is inspiring, they exude the spirit of Breakthrough! We can’t wait to see their college successes and how they make their marks in the world beyond!

Making Summer 2020 Epic

Our students need Breakthrough, now more than ever, to fill in the gaps of remote learning and provide emotional and social support. Like Derryfield, Breakthrough pivoted to meet our students’ needs. This spring, we provided laptops for those who needed them for remote learning and maintained a virtual community and support network to combat isolation and COVID-19 slide. “Virtual Fridays” offered opportunities for students to connect with teaching interns and Breakthrough staff to discuss time management, stress relief, and goal setting while having fun with trivia, yoga, scavenger hunts, and more.

Now, we have launched Breakthough’s most important summer yet and our first virtual program! Breakthrough’s six week summer program is the foundation of Breakthrough students’ path to college. Nine of our 24 Teaching Fellows returned from previous summers, which has been so helpful as we adapt to virtual Breakthrough. Their two-week orientation was filled with creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and joy. On June 22, we welcomed 104 students, including a new class of 37 seventh graders with cheers and the resilient Breakthrough spirit.

A screen shot of one of the Breakthrough online classes this summer.

Within the first couple of weeks, students have played virtual charades to learn French verbs, learned how to annotate and write about their reading in Literature, created a polygon by translating points on a coordinate plane in Geometry, identified and defined elements with scientific observations in Chemistry, and participated in virtual Zumba!