Growing up in San Francisco, Summer was passionate about learning – especially history, politics, and sociology. During her senior year at The Bay School, her advisor gave her a copy of bell hooks’ classic work Teaching to Transgress and mentioned she should consider teaching. “To hear that from someone I admired and respected so much, it really sparked something in me.” Starting off at Swarthmore College, she was still considering a range of options. “But as soon as I took Intro to Education, I knew that was what I was interested in, and it was kind of a no brainer to go in that direction.”
As she approached college graduation, Summer was feeling inspired to become a teacher but not sure what the job would be like day-to-day. At her roommate’s suggestion, she applied to Breakthrough, where she taught literature to rising eighth graders in summer 2017. “It was an amazing experience – I think possibly the best teacher education I’ve received,” she says. She appreciated the collaborative approach, such as having a teaching partner – another Teaching Fellow teaching the same grade level and subject in the classroom next door – to plan and compare notes with afterward, and the support from her Instructional Coach and the year-round staff.
“The friendships I built that summer are so foundational,” Summer says. “A lot of us are in the classroom now and it’s a testament to having a strong start, really being set up for success. The kids from that summer also still stick in my mind – we truly had such a strong connection. The support they receive at Breakthrough is life changing. I don’t think I saw that in action before, in that way, all these students of color thriving academically and socially, being in a space where they could be their authentic selves. I left feeling very empowered and confident, like, ‘I’m a teacher, and I could be really good if I keep at it.’”
Following her summer at Breakthrough, Summer worked as an associate teacher for two years at The Nueva School on the Peninsula, then enrolled in the Stanford Teacher Education Program, where she earned her teaching credential along with a Master’s in Teaching of Social Studies. For two years, overlapping with the COVID pandemic, she taught with Lighthouse Community Public Schools in Oakland. Since 2022, she’s been teaching Ethnic Studies, Public and Community Health, and Genomics at ARISE High School in Oakland, in the Fruitvale neighborhood. She appreciates the supportive, diverse community at her school and the wonderful students – “I really feel connected to them and inspired by them – they bring me so much joy and give me a sense of purpose.”
Summer envisions herself continuing in the classroom for years to come and potentially one day going into teacher education, developing the confidence of new teachers and helping them use their teaching practice to uplift students and create social change.