Breakthrough Austin

“Charles R. Swindoll, an American Writer, once said that ‘We are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.’” Shayla, a teacher in the 2011 Breakthrough Summer Program quoted.

In her speech at the 2011 Summer Celebration at Manor, Shayla talked about her personal experience as a first-generation college student. “My high school experience was similar to your experience here at Breakthrough, where first-generation college bound students knew they wanted to get to college, but didn’t know exactly how they would get there,” she said. Because of this experience, Shayla jumped at a chance to teach in the Breakthrough Summer Program. However, she was at first apprehensive about the task before her. “I thought, how could students teach other students, and would they have the skills necessary to manage a classroom? This seemed like an ‘impossible situation’ for me, but more importantly, I thought it would be a unique opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with students who come from similar backgrounds as mine.”

Shayla found teaching in the Breakthrough Summer Program to be a valuable learning experience and greatly rewarding. “I think I speak for all of the Breakthrough teachers when I say that this has been a tremendous learning experience for us as both teachers and people. I learned that teaching is not about lecturing information at students, but is about connecting and engaging with them and making sure that they understand what they’re learning…Each and every staff member here at Breakthrough has connected and engaged with our students and have grown to deeply care about their success this summer and for many years to come – both in school and in life.”

Finally, Shayla realized that, “…teaching is a part of me that I cannot escape, whether it’s inside a classroom, my community, or home.  I cannot consider waking up to teach my Breakthrough students every morning to be a job because it’s much deeper than that…I feel privileged to have worked with an incredibly talented group of students who share the same dream that I am working towards: to become a college graduate.”

Click here to read the full text of Shayla’s speech.