Breakthrough Atlanta marks its 20th anniversay with its first Fund-A-Scholar Celebration Sept. 22 at the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Information: breakthroughatlanta.org.
In her years as the associate director of admissions at Spelman College, Monica Rodgers spent most of her time in conversation with high school juniors and seniors and being amazed at the questions they asked about higher education, from when to take the SATs to the particulars of the application process. “Most of the time I found myself thinking how great it would be if they asked those questions earlier,” said Rodgers.
Since 2007, Rodgers has been leading a program that gets students in middle school thinking about those questions and the answers for their futures. Breakthrough Atlanta began 20 years ago as a way to keep kids on academic track during the summer, but it’s expanded to give them a leg up on college as well.
“Our first goal is to place middle school students on the path to college,” said Rodgers. “We also help them by offering a summer curriculum based on what’s coming up in the next school year. In the last 20 years, we’ve served thousands of students.”
For six weeks in the summer, rising seventh, eighth and ninth graders from around the city, Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb attend sessions at the Lovett School in Buckhead. From 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, the youngsters work on concepts they’ll need to master in the fall. During the school year, around 270 students, including high schoolers, attend Saturday workshops on a variety of topics, including financial aid and scholarships, college applications and SAT preparation.
“Many of our students are the first in their families to attend college,” said Rodgers. “This program gets them thinking about it sooner than later.”
Breakthrough has a third aim: to inspire the next generation of teachers.
“Our summer teachers are college students from around the country,” said Rodgers. “We have professional teachers who observe and mentor them, but it’s their opportunity to be creative in the classroom. We want them to consider education as a career. Some come in not wanting to teach and leave wanting to; others think they want to then realize it’s not for them.”
Students interested in the free Breakthrough program are asked to make a commitment to attending classes and workshops all through high school. “That’s their cost,” said Rodgers. “Our retention rate through high school is about 65 percent, and we want that to grow. We’re very proud that of the students who do stay engaged, 100 percent graduate from high school, and about 87 percent go to college.”
And some come back to teach. Devlynn Crane, a Mays High graduate who now studies education and history at Georgia State University, was part of Breakthrough 11 years ago and says it inspired him to go into teaching. This summer, he returned to lead classes in eighth grade social studies.
“What brought me back was the culture,” he said. “For me, Breakthrough made it fun to be smart, to know things and to be intelligent. It opened my eyes to what I could do academically. I thought it would be a great place to start my career and learn about the profession, and to impact the lives of young students as my teachers impacted me. Before coming here, I wasn’t sure if I’d have the patience to teach, but I found I loved it, and my goal now is to teach high school.”
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