Breaking through to at-risk youth

Breakthrough Atlanta is clearing a path to college for Atlanta’s low-income teens and the program’s director can’t say enough about it.

Monica Rodgers is the director of Breakthrough Atlanta, the local chapter of the national collaborative that aims to make college a reality for all students. She spoke at the Tuesday’s weekly meeting of the about the initiative and the challenges facing Atlanta’s at-risk students.

“Breakthrough believes in the power of education to change young people’s lives radically,” Rodgers said. “We believe that the middle school years are the critical crossroads where students makes choices that affect their futures dramatically. We are passionate in our belief that every child deserves access to an excellent education and encouragement to succeed.”

Breakthrough Atlanta is headquartered at The Lovett School in Vinings under the school’s 501(c)(3) division. The program receives no government funding and relies on donations from the community to operate.

Rodgers explained that only 60 percent of America’s low-income students will graduate high school. One in three of these students will attend college and only one in seven of those students will earn a bachelor’s degree. Breakthrough seeks to identify motivated, high-achieving students in middle school and put them on a path to higher education. This is accomplished in two ways, by holding academically intensive summer and Saturday programs and through an intensive, hands-on teacher training experience.

Middle school students from Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Henry counties go through an extensive application and interview process before they are accepted into the Breakthrough program. There is no cost to participate, but they are committing themselves to six years of intense academic programs. The program begins the summer before they begin seventh grade. The students participate in an all-day six-week summer school session where they take English, math, history and science classes as well as math and writing labs. High school and college interns, some of whom are Breakthrough alums, teach the students.

Hiring high school and college interns is the second aim of the program. In this way they’re enriching the lives of the students in the program as well as preparing tomorrow’s teachers.

But the program doesn’t end in the summer. Breakthrough students also participate in two Saturday programs a month where they focus on English, Math, History and study skills. By the time Breakthrough students are in high school, the focus of their participation in the program changes and they participate in financial aid and scholarship seminars as well as take tours of some of Atlanta’s colleges and universities.

The Atlanta program has a proven success rate. Of the students who participated in the program since it got started in 1996, 84 percent have gone on to attend college.

Rodgers told the story of a student named Justin who had to choose between participating in Breakthrough or joining a gang.

“He came to Breakthrough Atlanta,” she said. “He went to Hampton University and while he was in college he came back and was a teacher intern for two years. And last year, Justin graduated from Hampton University and is now working for The Home Depot corporate. That’s the story that we like to tell. That’s the story that we want to hear.”

Breakthrough Atlanta’s impact extends beyond the students enrolled in the program. Rodgers told the story of one parent who was inspired to go back to school to earn her associate’s degree after she saw her child’s enthusiasm for learning.