Breakthrough Twin Cities wishes you a very happy Fourth of July! Independence Day provides an opportunity to reflect on the values we all hold as Americans. It is also a chance to consider the diverse set of experiences each of us has had. Many Breakthrough students are first-generation Americans. Their families came to the US seeking freedom, justice, and educational opportunities. Breakthrough is proud to have these students and families as part of our community.

We would like to highlight two of our accomplished Breakthrough students who are first-generation Americans. Lay Lay and Let Let are twin sisters who were born in a Thai refugee camp after their parents fled their war-torn home country of Burma. In 2009, when they were seven years old, Lay Lay and Let Let immigrated with their family to the US to begin a new life in a land of opportunity.

Lay Lay and Let Let exemplify what Breakthrough is all about! They are academically accomplished, emotionally aware, socially mature, and heavily involved in their communities and extracurricular activities. These resilient teenagers have learned to navigate and thrive in a new country and also serve as advocates for themselves and champions for their families.

Like so many young immigrants, Lay Lay and Let Let faced the challenges of learning English, a crucial skill in their immigration journey. With zeal to master English, they have both immersed themselves in Breakthrough’s writing intensive courses—each attending 120 hours of instruction over the past three summers. Their efforts culminated in a personal narrative essay capstone project for the Breakthrough Leaders program.

While we are happy that Lay Lay and Let Let have adjusted so well and are a part of the Breakthrough community, we want to acknowledge their feelings about their native country. Lay Lay and Let Let lament the lack of visibility that their native country’s civil war has garnered on the world stage. Moreover, they fear the Karen people and culture will vanish. They are committed to preserving the rich traditions of their heritage and are active with their family in the Karen Cultural Organization of Minnesota.

We recognize the tremendous accomplishments of these two young women and all of our immigrant students and their families. It takes determination and resiliency to adapt to a new life in a new country, and we are grateful to have people with these qualities in our program. We will continue to ensure that our immigrant students and their families are welcomed, valued, and supported on their path to academic achievement.

Have a great Fourth of July everyone!

At the age of four, I immigrated to America from Thailand with my family. Although I was surrounded and supported by my loving family as a young child, I spoke only Hmong at home – and still do. Even so, I knew from that young age that my parents’ goal for me was to attend and graduate from college. Although they did not really know what college was or what it meant to go there, they had been told that college was crucial to achieving success in America. And they had come to America so that my siblings and I could succeed.

It was when I started school that I began to notice how different I was from the majority of white students around me. Most obviously, I spoke no English – although I quickly learned this new language. Also, it took time for me to understand many of the cultural norms for school behavior, like how to ask to go to the restroom. But hardest of all in elementary school was the loneliness I felt. I was an ambitious student whose parents insisted on success – but I found myself surrounded by many peers who did not seem to care about school at all. I felt isolated, alone, shy, and different.

But then came Breakthrough, and it changed my attitude toward learning, toward how I saw my future and especially how I saw myself. At Breakthrough, I was surrounded by other students who were just like me: motivated students who loved learning and wanted to support me. I gradually realized that I was no longer alone. The diverse Breakthrough community fostered my confidence in my ability to express my thoughts. It not only helped me break out of my shell, but it taught me what college really meant – why I wanted desperately to go; what to do to prepare; how to think about my future. Breakthrough enabled me to become an ambitious and determined student.

Breakthrough also helped me cultivate the personal qualities that would ensure my success. Qualities like perseverance, listening, curiosity, the value of hard work with equally ambitious peers. Instead of the shy, quiet student I had been, I learned to be comfortable with discomfort, to take risks. Before Breakthrough, I would never have spoken in front of anyone. After Breakthrough, I not only spoke, but sang, danced, and acted in front of 150 people. I found that I loved learning; I loved school; I loved my cohort; and I loved Breakthrough.

However, as I progressed through advanced and college classes in high school, I found myself retreating from my earlier exuberance. The higher the level of a course, it seemed that the lower the number of people of color was. Just as in elementary school, my confidence and curiosity began to seep away as I felt increasingly isolated. One day in English class, the teacher announced that we were going to discuss race. The first question was “What does ‘whiteness’ mean to you?” Most of the other (white) students had lots to say, but I was paralyzed by how to respond. So I said nothing. Had I been asked, I would have said, “Whiteness means the 1%, privilege, exclusivity.” But instead I remained silent and alone.

But, once again, Breakthrough came to my rescue. After all, I had learned to be comfortable with discomfort, to question, to express my opinions. Now, in advanced classes, I am gradually applying those earlier lessons in the increasingly rarified, non-diverse surroundings I find myself in. Even without my Breakthrough cohort with me, I am capable of speaking up and speaking out. 

Now I am headed to St. Olaf College in the fall on a full scholarship. My grateful thanks go to Breakthrough and all of you who support this program – a program that can awaken a shy Hmong immigrant and transform her into an ambitious, aware scholar. Please know that your support has given me a future I never dreamed could really be mine.

During my senior year of high school in 2014, I was on this stage, speaking to you. I ended that speech with a statement that I truly still believe. In that speech, I said, “I moved to America 8 years ago from Ethiopia speaking absolutely no English. Here I am today, speaking in front of all of you as a Gates Scholar and a future Pomona College graduate. I don’t think you need any more proof that Breakthrough is the best program in the world. I love Breakthrough with all my heart and hope to someday come back and work for them to teach more students like me.” Re-reading the speech, I couldn’t believe I was that wise 4 years ago.

Since then, my life has continued to blossom in expected and unexpected ways. I’m actually graduating from Pomona College in a week. While there, I led the first ever black alternative spring break for 18 Pomona students. The program still continues today. I’ve mentored students on financial literacy and have also helped incoming black freshmen accommodate to Pomona. After my sophomore year, I got an internship with Facebook, did well, and was invited back the following summer. I guess they really liked me because I will be working for Facebook starting this fall. In addition, I planned a very successful fundraising event for hurricane relief and raised over $4,000 from student donations. Also, I received a grant to do a project on menstrual education for women in Ethiopia, so I will be doing that this summer. Pretty amazing, right? However, I credit most of my success to Breakthrough. I really do and I’m not just saying that because I am up here. Breakthrough helped me with all of these accomplishments. Everything started because of Breakthrough. I learned about my capabilities and my intelligence because of Breakthrough. Breakthrough instilled in me the value of working hard, going after my passion, being excited about learning, and reaching out to my network whenever I needed help. I’ll forever be grateful. That’s why I flew across the country to come give this speech right before finals.

But guess what? I am not here to talk about my accomplishments. I want my speech to be about failure and hardship because it has been my failures and hardships that have led me to those accomplishments.

I failed my first test ever in college. This may not seem like a big deal, but it felt like my world had ended when I failed not one but multiple tests during my time at Pomona. I thought everything I had worked so hard for was going to waste. The math classes did not make any sense to me and it felt like everyone around me knew exactly what was going on. And they did. Which frustrated me even more. I struggled being an Economics major because I initially did not understand half the things the professor was saying. Whenever the professor would ask, “So what are your questions?” in my head, I was always thinking, “Umm everything?” “Hmm I’m so confused, I don’t even know what my questions are.” I was lost and I felt scared to ask questions in a classroom where sometimes I was the only black woman.

What took me awhile to understand about academics at Pomona or any college is that it was different from high school and extremely challenging. Students also come in at different levels, and comparing myself to how fast my classmates understood the material wasn’t getting me anywhere. After I realized that doing nothing and complaining was probably going to actually ensure failure, I started taking action. I did exactly what Breakthrough taught me as a 7th grader: I asked for help.

1. I went to office hours and told my professors I was confused. I literally walked in and told them, “Yeah, I’m going to fail your class because I don’t understand anything.” I discovered that professors want to help and I can’t say that enough.

2. I found a quantitative skills center that tutors students for free and did all my homework with another student who had already taken the class.

3. I found a study group with other students to get started on my homework and bounce off ideas. Sometimes your friends are in class with you which makes it easier to find study groups but sometimes they’re not so you have to step out of your comfort zone and meet new people

Because academics are going to be hard in college, don’t sit and complain when that happens. Take action because there are resources available for you. You just have to seek them out because no one is going to come and say, “Oh you look confused, let me help you.” I learned to be honest with myself about my confusions and hardships. I stopped blaming people for my own failures and took action. The key lesson here is that I didn’t wait for someone else to help me, I learned to be my own self advocate. As you go into college and life, be your own self advocate. Speak up and speak loud.

Academic failures are just one example. There were social failures where I struggled to find balance between doing fun things with friends and doing my homework . There were emotional failures where I struggled to find my inner peace. There were physical failures where I was sick for a whole year and couldn’t find the right care because no doctor knew what was wrong with me. I honestly could go on for a long time about my failures but in all those instances where I did fail, I was honest and owned up to the problem. I also developed the courage to ask for help so that I could find others to work with me.

Seniors, you will fail and you will face hardships in college. Multiple times. Life will get really difficult. And sometimes you’ll question if you really belong there or deserve to be there. And the answer is, “Yes you do.” And you will finish college. You will learn through failures and hardships because when you fail, you learn — and you think critically about how to overcome those failures and hardships in the future.

I’m going to end with these affirmations. I’ve been reciting certain statements to myself in the mirror and it always makes me feel better. I want you to look at yourself every day and I want you to say or think these statements whenever you question yourself. I would like everyone to repeat after me:

I am worthy.

I am enough.

I am smart.

I deserve to be here.

I am deserving of all good things coming my way.

I will graduate.

As I mentioned before, none of my learning to cope with failure would have been possible without Breakthrough. Since 7th grade, Breakthrough has baked into me the values of communication, striving to understand, relishing hard-work together, being grateful, being curious, living the growth mindset and persisting. With hard-work, teamwork, curiosity, perseverance, and gratitude, all the qualities that Breakthrough teaches us, we can overcome any failure in college and beyond.

Thank you all for supporting this transformative program!

I am a teacher. All my life I have been a teacher. When people ask me how long I have been teaching; I always say since I was three when my brother was born. In undergrad, I studied Psychology knowing that I would always go back to education for a career. After my Junior year in college I knew I wanted to work in MN for the summer… and that’s when I became a teaching fellow at Breakthrough Twin Cities in 2005, Breakthrough’s first year.

When I read the Breakthrough teaching manual I cried. Seriously. It was everything I believed education was about. Connecting. Bridges. Giving under-resourced students a chance to achieve their highest potential. It’s what I believe. It’s why I’m an educator. I wish all children could have the opportunity to reach their goals and dreams; and if I can help them get there as a teacher – I can’t imagine a better job.

I never worked as hard as I worked the summer for Breakthrough. (Actually, having a two-year-old and a newborn was a little more work than my summer at Breakthrough…) I was at Breakthrough before 6am some days and didn’t leave until 6pm most days. I was ready to work, learn and grow with the students. We were all ready. That first year we were 8 teachers and 40 students. We did it all. We told the students to embrace whatever made them feel uncomfortable and we did the same. But all that hard work paid off in some life changing lessons.

Lesson number one, teaching has a lot to do with improvisation. You never know what will happen on any day and you have to be ready for anything. When I write my teaching handbook it is going to be called, “Yes and…” If you are not familiar with “yes and…” it is an improv game. Any time someone says something you have to reply with “Yes and…”

For example – Will you write a speech for the Breakthrough Booyah Bash? Yes, and I will use jazz hands. Yes, and we will smile. Yes and I will tap dance. Yes and you will sing. Yes and it will be fabulous.”

Lesson number two: laughter is the key to learning and risk taking. Every morning all the students and teachers gather together at All School Meetings. Teaching Fellows encourage our bright, motivated, shy and hesitant students to share what they are learning through public speaking, dancing, drama, and songs. Breakthrough students take huge risks and everyone is cheering them on. Sometimes they make mistakes and then we laugh and still cheer them on. Together we are all learning and growing.

Lesson number three: the summer confirmed my commitment to education. We, Teaching Fellows, made it through the summer and we felt strong. We could do anything. We worked so hard because we loved the students, we loved the mission of Breakthrough, we were committed to one another to create the best program we could. If the Breakthrough model could be in every school or if every teacher had the opportunity to experience Breakthrough – education would be transformed.

After Breakthrough, I received my elementary and social studies teaching license. Since then, I have been teaching at a charter school in St Paul called, Saint Paul City School. Breakthrough gave me the drive to teach. It introduced me to the diverse community in Saint Paul and definitely led me to the career path I am currently on. I personally think Breakthrough rocks!

 

I also want to thank all of you for saying YES and I WILL generously support Breakthrough Twin Cities!

Many thanks to Breakthrough Twin Cities for inviting me to speak here tonight. I am truly honored and humbled by their consideration of me as someone who could speak to the significance of Breakthrough throughout my high school and college career. I would also like to congratulate the class of 2017. Some of your most rewarding, albeit stressful, years of self-discovery are awaiting you. As you can see in this room tonight, you have hundreds of supporters behind you as you journey onward.

In 2006, I came to Breakthrough as a Native American and German seventh grade student from a single-parent household. I had never felt particularly challenged in my classes and was already excited about the idea of college. That first summer I was energized by cheering, motivating teachers, by discovering that learning could be fun, by the math problems of the day, and by my cohort of like-minded students my age who were all motivated to go to college. Six years later, as a graduating senior, I came to my own Booyah Bash having won a Gates Millennium Scholarship and admittance to Carleton College, a school that would become a central, influential, and liberating part of my life. At that bash, I was absolutely floored by the number of people I saw in the room who had supported me throughout my six years in the program and were genuinely interested in my success. Today, I am fortunate enough to stand before you as a software engineer at a tech startup, living in a thriving neighborhood of Chicago, loving life, surrounded by fantastic family and friends. It’s clear to me that Breakthrough played an enormous part in getting me where I am today. In subtle ways, Breakthrough laid the foundation upon which I could succeed in college.

“It’s clear to me that Breakthrough played an enormous part in getting me where I am today.”

From insisting that I fill out the application on my own as a sixth grader, Breakthrough incubated a culture of self-advocacy, teaching me that I wasn’t any less of a success by reaching out for help. In the middle school program, Breakthrough continually emphasized actively seeking opportunities to learn. Throughout high school but particularly throughout college, I was no stranger to seeking help when I needed it: I spent many nights in the math skills and writing centers, applying for summer funding through the career center, reaching out to alumni for networking opportunities, and meeting with professors outside of class whenever I needed to go over the material again. Undoubtedly, without reaching out, I probably wouldn’t have done nearly as well in my courses, received grants to take unpaid internships, nor made the connections that helped me get the job I wanted out of college.

However, this is not to undersell the importance of Breakthrough’s insistence on a steady work ethic. I remember fondly that my two Breakthrough summers were absolutely full of late night booyah sessions, whether building models of Hmong houses during the secret war or figuring out how to solve for X. I learned through Breakthrough that grinding away at something and pushing yourself to take the extra step to accomplish it correctly can have incredible pay-offs. During my sophomore spring, I had taken a course in Linear Algebra: As anyone who has struggled with math before might know, once you miss something foundational, it’s hard to understand any theorem that builds upon it. This happened to me, and I went into preparation for finals feeling fairly uncertain about half of the course material. The only solution I could think of was to reread the textbook, from the beginning, and do practice problems along the way. In one day, I went through 8 chapters and effectively retaught myself the entire curriculum. I ended up acing that final and walking away with an A on my transcript. It’s become part of my nature to see the benefits of pushing through the challenges, something that was first formed when I faced the challenging booyah I was presented with at Breakthrough.

Perhaps the subtlest impact Breakthrough has had on me resulted from one of the most unique aspects of Breakthrough: the relationships that students build with their teachers. Knowing that I had Breakthrough teachers supporting me through middle and high school where everyone had mutual respect for each other, regardless of age or ethnicity, made me want to engage in my education and give my complete effort. For me, these relationships with teachers shaped my interests later on in life, and put me where I am today. I’m pleased to see that Daniel Bernal is still heavily involved in the program (Daniel, please stand!). Daniel was my algebra teacher my first summer at Breakthrough. It was actually through that class that I entered seventh grade with enough confidence to ask my teacher to move me up a grade level and with enough skill that she granted my request. In college, my love of math continued. I signed up for intro to computer science, math of computer science, data structures, linear algebra, statistics, probability, regression analysis, and more, pursued two development internships in Silicon Valley and Germany, participated in a week-long career exploration of tech companies in the Twin Cities, helped found the development club at Carleton, and organized two major hackathons. Daniel gave me an everlasting gift: he made me realize more than a decade ago that I had a passion for the quantitative, something that has shaped my college career and my life.

“Daniel gave me an everlasting gift: he made me realize more than a decade ago that I had a passion for the quantitative, something that has shaped my college career and my life.”

Before I leave the stage, from the bottom of my heart, I wish to extend an immense amount of gratitude to the donors and supporters of the Breakthrough program throughout the years. Breakthrough lives on the philanthropy of those who dare to dream of a world where every child has an opportunity to rise up, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds. Donors, I ask you to take a moment to look around and reflect on the impact you have had on me and the class of 2017, forever changing the course of our lives and supporting our ambitions to succeed. Class of 2017, I ask that you also look: one of the most colossal impressions I took away from my own Booyah Bash was that there were hundreds of people around me who both wanted the best for me, and were there to help.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone at Breakthrough who believed in me enough to give me a chance. I remember sitting in a room on the first floor of Capitol Hill Magnet Elementary School, where Jeff Ochs, Breakthrough’s founder, spoke to a small group of sixth graders chosen to hear about the program. He had a metaphor for college: we were all in a maze, and at the end of the maze was a door. That door was the door to college, and Breakthrough would give us the key. My experiences during and after Breakthrough have been proof that Jeff was right: Breakthrough really does open the door to a transformed life.

 

Read Shannon’s Booyah Bash Speech

As I look back at my life and the challenges that I have faced, it feels like a true miracle that I am here with you tonight, graduating from high school in a few weeks, attending the Naval Academy in the fall, let alone having the honor to give this speech tonight.

For much of my life, I’ve dealt with problems regarding my biracial identity. I was born into a loving, supportive family with an African American mother and a Caucasian father. As a result, I have always experienced inner controversy as to which race I would label myself. When filling out personal information forms, over and over I would find myself in that awkward position where the form asked for my race. I could only choose one – and I never knew which one to choose. Also, growing up has been difficult since there never seemed to be a place for me. My peers never embraced the fact that I was mixed race. They just rejected me because I would not, could not, choose one or the other. Classmates would say that I was too dark to be white or too light to be black. These comments only made me feel more isolated, with very few friends.

“I have always experienced inner controversy as to which race I would label myself… I could only choose one – and I never knew which one to choose.”

Along with racial identity, I also dealt with my shame about the fact that for many years I faced homelessness. My family already had a hard time keeping stable housing when we lived in Nebraska, but when we moved to Minnesota in 2005, that’s when it got bad. For roughly 3 years my family and I hopped around from house to house of family and friends; sometimes we had to sleep in the basements of churches just because we had nowhere else to go. As many of you know, homelessness means frequently changing schools; it also means loss – loss of friends, of beloved possessions, of stability, of memories.

All of these experiences gradually broke me and wore me down. Then came Breakthrough, my literal chance to break through. I believe that Breakthrough became something I relied on in my life, the one thing that never changed. Breakthrough believed in my potential and made me believe in it too.

“Breakthrough believed in my potential and made me believe in it too.”

Breakthrough certainly made me want to be more competitive academically. I know I may not have been a perfect student during my past 6 years of school, but Breakthrough made me strive to try to be the best I could. Breakthrough expected everyone’s best, and when you look around tonight at Breakthrough’s students, you see a group who is dedicated to performing at the highest academic level. Because of Breakthrough, I was motivated to succeed. I came to assume that, of course, I would go to college, the first one in my family to do so.

Because of Breakthrough, I’ve had enriching experiences that have really broadened my world – visiting college campuses, conducting mock trials, sitting as legislators debating a bill in the state capital. Breakthrough has led me to long term friendships with classmates who have similar goals of success, just like me. Isolation and loneliness were relegated to my past.

Also, by joining Breakthrough, I’ve noticed how my self-esteem, along with my self-confidence, has grown to a level that would’ve been unheard of for me just a few years before. There were so many “firsts”: speaking in public for the first time, performing with classmates in front of 700 applauding Breakthrough families for the first time, learning teamwork portaging canoes in the BWCA for the first time. All these Breakthrough experiences helped me gain the confidence I needed for my future.

Thanks to Breakthrough, I didn’t have to worry about being defined by my race. Thanks to Breakthrough, I was allowed to think and dream big. Thanks to Breakthrough I see a successful future for myself. Thanks to Breakthrough, I am prepared for the work that is soon to come at the Naval Academy. And, most especially, thanks to all of you and the support you have given to me and my classmates. You have made it possible for us students to change the trajectory of our lives, to become confident and ambitious individuals, to break through homelessness, poverty, and low expectations to be successful in college and in life.

Read Raven Pillmann’s Booyah Bash Speech