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Happy National Mentoring Month!
Meet Stevie Martinez-Farias
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"My teachers were the reason as to why I wanted to give back. Because of them I know what I’m capable of and I hope I am able to have the same impact on my students. Giving them the foundation to do more and believe in themselves and the effect they will have on the future."
- Stevie,
Breakthrough College Student,
Former AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow
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In honor of National Mentoring Month, we’re celebrating Breakthrough staff, AmeriCorps Members and Teaching Fellows, just like Stevie, who have built, and continue to build, quality mentoring relationships with our students to lead them on the path to college graduation.
Just last summer, Stevie spent 6 weeks teaching English Language Arts and Tech Research to a group of Breakthrough 9th graders. Wide eyed and eager to learn, she saw the same gleam of curiosity and excitement in her students that she remembered in herself. Nine years ago Stevie joined Breakthrough with the same college dreams as her students. Today, she is a junior at Bennington College and will be walking the stage in May 2021. Read more.
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Want to become a summer mentor? We are actively recruiting nearly 160 AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows to mentor our middle school students during our Summer Academy. The Teaching Fellow program is a great opportunity for high school and college students to practice their leadership, creativity, and problem-solving, while making a profound difference in the lives of Breakthrough students.
DEADLINE TO APPLY: FEBRUARY 27
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SAVE THE DATE: Amplify the Dreams of Breakthrough Students on March 5-6
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Mark your calendars! Austin's annual day of giving, Amplify Austin, is fast approaching. Do you want to be part of this city-wide impact? It's easy! Here's how you can help:
BECOME AN AMPLIFY AUSTIN FUNDRAISER - Amplify Austin offers an easy way to connect others with your passion for our mission by creating your own personal campaign to raise funds and gather friends to support our students’ dreams. Start your fundraising page here.
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA - ...And, encourage your friends to participate. Tag @BreakthroughCTX and #AmplifyATX on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and share our updates throughout the day.
Help make college dreams come true for more than 2,000 Breakthrough students on their path to and through college. Your gift through Amplify Austin will have a profound impact on our students, their familes and our community for generations to come.
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AT A GLANCE: Breakthrough High School Class of 2020
Our high school seniors are on the brink of making some of the biggest decisions of their lives this spring. With deadlines accelerated this year, Breakthrough seniors entered the new year finishing up financial aid applications and opening (multiple) college acceptance letters. To date, they have a total of 299 college acceptances from colleges and universities around the nation, including Baylor University, Huston-Tillotson University, Penn State University, St. Edward's University, Texas A&M College Station, Texas Tech University, UT Austin, and many more!
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Seniors finishing up financial aid & college applications at our annual No Pie 'til You Apply event.
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More Breakthrough College Students = More Internships Needed
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This spring, Breakthrough will serve nearly 300 college students, with an additional 150 students set to enroll in college and universities this coming fall. This summer, we’re looking to place nearly 100 of those college students in paid internships around town through our Future Focus Program. These internship experiences will allow our students to make extra money for college expenses and help them grow professionally, while providing host companies with exceptionally motivated and hardworking interns from diverse backgrounds.
We are currently recruiting additional host companies to take on our rising number of qualified students. Are you interested in hosting an internship for a Breakthrough student this summer?
The benefits and value a host company gains are numerous. By managing today's workload and developing tomorrow's workforce, hiring a Future Focus intern is an excellent way to facilitate success at your company. If you are interested in hiring an intern this summer, contact Julia Bell Ambrose at jambrose@atxinterns.org.
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Future Focus Interns at Accenture
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“People are our greatest source of competitive advantage. That’s why Accenture remains committed to developing the next generation of talent, and we are proud to continue our collaboration with Breakthrough Central Texas and the Future Focus Summer Internship Program. At Accenture, we strongly believe that internship programs – particularly at the local level – are critical to igniting greater interest in technology and ultimately building a pipeline to help address the skills gap in our state and nation. Our interns, including Breakthrough students, gain on-the-job training while helping our clients continue to grow, compete and transform in today’s digital economy.”
- Helen Haman, Strategic Program & Operations Senior Manager at Accenture
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Impactful Breakthroughs:
Meet Ms. Q, Former Breakthrough Summer Instructional Coach
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Every summer, Breakthrough welcomes a group of experienced educators from surrounding districts to serve as Instructional Coaches for our Summer AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows. While being mentors and role models for our teachers, they set the standard of classroom teaching in our program by playing a vital role in training and supporting our faculty, refining and developing the summer curriculum, and shaping Breakthrough’s learning environment for our middle school students. Quintina Gildon was a Breakthrough Summer Instructional Coach for 3 years, and is currently the Assistant Principal at Oak Meadows Elementary in Manor ISD.
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"When I initially began working with Breakthrough as an instructional coach, I thought my role would simply be one where I would teach young adults to be confident teachers for the summer. In reality, Breakthrough was much much more. The most impactful breakthroughs I’ve experienced involved observing our Teaching Fellows grasp adulting with confidence, building a Breakthrough mindset amongst students and teachers alike, and creating timeless memories through our willingness to connect rather than reject our future." - Quintina Gildon (Ms. Q)
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Each time the hashtag #BreakthroughChallenge is shared publicly on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram, National Instruments matches $10 toward the campaign up to $10,000
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| Breakthrough is proud to be an AmeriCorps program.
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