When it came time to apply for colleges, Kyla Harris knew plenty of schools she could consider, but she didn’t know what she wanted to study. 

Then a junior at Boston Preparatory Charter School, Harris always loved school, “and I was kind of a nerd,” she says, especially in STEM subjects. 

But growing up in Dorchester, Mass., with a single mother who frequently juggled multiple jobs to support her two daughters, Harris says she wasn’t quite sure what a career could look like. Even in a state where nearly 90 percent of the class of 2023 graduated in four years, not all of her peers were talking about college. “The reality for some people I grew up with was, ‘I don’t even really want to finish high school.’”

Harris graduated in May 2024 and is now attending the University of Massachusetts Boston as the first member of her family to attend college. She plans to major in physics with an education minor, thanks in no small part to the educators who helped her get here. Among them? Many college-aged teaching fellows from Breakthrough Greater Boston. 

The power of early intervention

An extracurricular academic support program for motivated public school students from traditionally underserved backgrounds in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, Breakthrough empowers students and aspiring educators with year-round resources from middle school through college. 

Harris’ mother encouraged her to sign up for Breakthrough when the organization was recruiting in her sixth grade classroom. Now, as a first-year teaching fellow enrolled in college, Harris realizes that her mother saw her academic potential and was setting her up for future success. 

Research has shown that early academic intervention can promote skills and resilience among children from low-income families, says Breakthrough co-executive director Jennifer Stange. Beginning in middle school, Breakthrough participants join a cohort of college students who assist them with homework, plan hands-on workshops, lead engaging, student-centered classes, and host field trips during the flagship six-week summer program. This multifaceted approach not only prevents learning loss over summer breaks for students, but actually “creates lifelong learners,” Stange says. 

Through personalized tutoring, interactive workshops, and mentorship from the teaching fellows, Harris began to imagine her life after high school. That’s a future that Breakthrough Greater Boston and one of its philanthropic partners Takeda aim to support every day, says Chris Barr, Takeda’s US head of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy.

“We really try to work with the community to find out where the gaps are,” Barr says. In 2021, he had a conversation with Breakthrough leaders that revealed the COVID-19 pandemic was deepening the gap in math knowledge and skills which was already prevalent in communities underrepresented on college campuses. “That’s why we focused on math equity and math proficiency from the earliest stages,” he says. “If you give students the support they need in middle school, ramp up support in high school, and then also support them in college, you make sure that they have a stronger opportunities to look for STEM careers.”

Peer tutoring helps level the playing field

Harris joined the program as a rising middle schooler, and she spent this past summer — her seventh summer with Breakthrough — on the other side of the classroom, teaching eighth grade science at the Boston campus. As a teaching fellow, Harris is getting real experience leading a classroom and supporting individual students. At 18, she’s also the youngest teaching fellow the organization has brought on.

Breakthrough’s unique “students teaching students” model is just one hands-on, college-focused program that Harris has benefitted from over the years. “They had a lot of college resources, even starting from middle school,” she says, like a special Friday each summer dedicated to College and Career Day. The teaching fellows would wear T-shirts from their schools and talk to students about their majors, “just like, hyping it up,” Harris says. College seemed fun, she recalls thinking, and “maybe I can see myself there one day.”

Eighty percent of Breakthrough program participants are first-generation college students, and more than half come from low-income backgrounds, says Stange. 

As Harris has begun exploring a teaching career and getting ready for college, she’s been texting members of her expansive Breakthrough network for life advice. That’s a common occurrence, Stange says. “Our middle school students can see themselves in their near-age peers, even though they are their teachers.”

Harris fit right in. “Given that my teachers were really young, they kind of understood me,” she says. “[They] got me a job, they’re helping me find scholarships. I honestly don’t know if I would go to college without them.”

Of course, college isn’t for everyone, and Stange acknowledges it’s not the end-all answer for every student. But Breakthrough provides a path to help families navigate the possibilities.

Guiding students toward a better tomorrow

With fewer young people entering the teaching field post-pandemic, having a positive place like Breakthrough to explore curriculum education is important to rebuilding that pipeline, Stange says. During the summer program for middle schoolers, professionals coach the teaching fellows and high schoolers intern as “junior teachers.” The model typically results in a 3:1 student-to-teacher ratio, significantly lower than the average 13:1 ratio found in Massachusetts classrooms. For the past two summers, Takeda’s involvement has also enabled Breakthrough to hire a professional math interventionist for each of its three campuses. 

“The support is huge,” Stange says. “It’s allowed us to think about what individualized supports we are able to provide students.”

The strategic investment in STEM-centered education is part of Takeda’s mission to foster resiliency and equality in communities where it does business. “Supporting initiatives like Breakthrough Greater Boston is crucial to addressing the educational disparities highlighted by community needs and data,” Barr says. Strong educational foundations empower students and thus, bring about a more equitable society.

Access to a higher education for all

Only 76 percent of low-income youth in the US can expect to graduate from high school, and those students face unique barriers staying on the path to college, Stange notes. Compare that figure with 82 percent of Breakthrough students who are currently persisting through college. The data shows that the impact of the program goes beyond just academics. 

“There is so much social and emotional learning that also happens,” Stange says, adding that “the element of mutual learning” between students and their teachers is one of the most inspiring aspects. The program’s demographics — more than 94 percent of participants are students of color — also diversify academia. Only 17 percent of public school teachers across the country are people of color, Stange shares. Breakthrough’s dual mission to serve both students and aspiring educators takes on inequities not only individually, but also on systemic levels.

For Harris, she’s grateful for the opportunities the program has yielded so far. “I truly wish that every student who grew up like I did in Boston’s low-income communities had this program,” she says. “I didn’t even know if I actually wanted to go to college. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. It’s important to have these resources that are free,” she says, so all students can explore paths to their future and develop their own strengths.

Learn more about Takeda’s local efforts in their Community Impact Report.