Volunteer

Cata first tutored with Breakthrough as a seventh grader at SF Day School. “At the time, I figured it would be an interesting thing to try,” she remembers. The experience was meaningful enough that Cata continued volunteering at Breakthrough for five more years – until her recent graduation from Drew School.

“The students share a value of mine: learning,” she says. “As a tutor, I try to push my students to understand ‘why’ they are dividing this number or ‘why’ this part is the main idea.  I try to challenge them with riddles and mind-bending problems.”

Watching her students make strides was satisfying. Cata feels, however, that she has grown right alongside them.

“It’s not just the tutees who learn things,” she says. “Working with the Breakthrough students helps me understand the concepts I have learned in school at a much deeper level. I have enjoyed also interacting with different girls from schools across the city, in the classroom and on the roof, where they often beat me at tetherball and on the four-square court. My experiences at Breakthrough have changed my perspective on so many things.”

Ella contacted us as a sophomore at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory School here in San Francisco, looking for a fun way to get her community service hours done. “I didn’t know I was entering a life-changing experience,” she says. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with the students!” Ella spent the following three summers at Breakthrough as a Volunteer Leadership Participant.

During the afternoon Homework Center, Ella worked in a small group setting making sure all of her tutees were able to understand their homework.  “Every kid has a different style of learning and different ideas that go along with it.  We frequently use the objects and people around us to model problems, especially in science and math. This approach not only teaches the students the material, but it helps them conceptualize it and relate it to their lives.”

As a volunteer, Ella has contributed greatly to the program and students, but her biggest take-away is the impact the students have had on her. “Taking the bus home after my first day, I reflected that this wasn’t ‘community service’; these kids were serving me. They show me what is truly important in the form of their enthusiasm, hope, and perseverance. Even after one day, I felt their inspiration. There is a magic about them that proclaims the beauty of life. The connections I made, especially during tutoring, are ones I will never forget.”

Ella encourages everyone to volunteer with Breakthrough.  “The program’s sense of hope is refreshing and inspiring,” she says. “These students will change the world, and I am so glad that I had the chance to know them.”