Staff Spotlight: David Tarula

“College wasn’t a part of my vocabulary growing up. In my family, getting a job was valued over going to college.” explains David Tarula, Breakthrough Silicon Valley Middle School Program Coordinator. In middle school, he was often teased by friends and family for earning good grades. David...

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Staff Spotlight: Christina Tran-Kenyon

Born and raised in East San Jose, Christina Tran-Kenyon was the first in her family to attend college. She is an alumna of University of the Pacific where she earned both her Bachelor of Science in Business,and Masters in Education. Like many Breakthrough students, language and cultural barriers often...

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First-Generation College Applicant Opens Up about the Grueling Process

Applying to college can be overwhelming for any student. But it’s especially intimidating for an applicant who is the first in his or her family to attend a four-year university. Decisions about where and how to apply, and college affordability issues pose hurdles for first-generation college students....

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Design Thinking: Innovation in the Classroom

In addition to teaching two core writing classes to Breakthrough 7th graders, Clare Dreyfus, a rising senior at Vanderbilt University, also taught a Design Thinking elective in which students conceptualize, build, and refine projects using the tools and technology made available by our host Hillbrook...

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Career Explorations: Connecting the Professional World With Classrooms

The past two weeks at Breakthrough Silicon Valley have been packed with career-relevant activities. Last week, we invited over 30 professionals to step into our students’ classrooms to talk about their jobs and educational journeys. Our Career Speakers represented various professions: from Adobe developers...

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"It's so much more than a summer camp!"

Last week, I met with one of my friends and was explaining to him what a day at Breakthrough Silicon Valley looks like. “In the morning, we meet the students at the buses, give them high fives on the way down, and then play some games before classes start. We also have this thing called ASM which stands...

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Spirit Week 2014

Spirit Week is a celebration of our students’ creativity, positive risk taking, and passion for Breakthrough. Students dress up every day according to themes such as pajama day, wacky Wednesday, superhero, and decades day.  Within their crews, or small Breakthrough families outside the classroom,...

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What makes a good teacher?

Remember those teachers who made the greatest impact on you? It might be your first-grade teacher, high school calculus teacher, or a college professor. What was it about their teaching style that made them stand out from all the other teachers you had? Were they more engaging? Were they well-liked?...

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About This Blog

The Breakthrough Blog was started in Summer of 2014 by Public Relations Intern, Joel Ponce: I experienced Breakthrough for the first time during my 7th grade summer, when I was just eleven years old. Seven years later, I spent my first summer out of college working as a teacher intern for Breakthrough Silicon Valley. I was now the 7th grade teacher rather than the 7th grade student. Breakthrough's...

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