RE LOG - Spring 2017

SPRING 2017 Ransom Everglades LOG 11 Dwanita Fields ’00 Breakthrough student and teacher MBA in International Business at Nova Southeastern University BS at Howard University Ransom Everglades Class of 2000 Notable job history Senior Site Director at Gulliver Schools, Breakthrough Miami Fellow, 2015 New Leaders Council Co-Chair, Junior League of Miami for the CHARLEE Project Middle-School Math Teacher, Miami-Dade County Public Schools “Summerbridge/Breakthrough opened up a world of opportunities for me. I am so thankful to have been a student in the program because I believe it changed the my life by placing like-minded individuals around me and introducing me to one of the most prestigious educational experiences, attending Ransom Everglades. This educational experience overly prepared me for college and my future professional path.” Breakthrough Miami’s Flagship: Ransom Everglades Even as other schools have expanded their programs, Ransom Everglades remains Breakthrough Miami’s flagship and largest site with more than 240 scholars. RE’s program, led by senior site director Webber Charles, has honed its recruiting to ensure that it consistently unearths both academic superstars and hidden talents. Paul Natland ’02 , now a physics teacher at Ransom Everglades, said he didn’t realize he loved math – and was good at it – until he got into Breakthrough Miami. “I kept getting excited about different topics,” he said. “After my second summer in the program, I had the confidence to move into a more advanced math class. I was empowered in math because of Breakthrough. It wasn’t outside of Breakthrough that I got this empowerment.” Breakthrough scholars on RE’s campus are also exposed to specialized programs in sailing, swimming, drama and other areas, ensuring that they have opportunities to learn and excel even in non-academic realms. RE’s Breakthrough team also advises parents, serves as an ad hoc consultant to the Miami-Dade public school system and prides itself on the workforce training it gives aspiring teachers. Breakthrough Miami now attracts students from more than 100 schools from throughout the county – from Miami Gardens to Homestead to Liberty City to Hialeah. More than 80 percent of Breakthrough scholars qualify for the National School Lunch Program. Nearly 50 percent speak a primary language besides English. More than a third will be the first generation in their families to attend college. Nearly half come from single-parent households. I’Tita-Nefartari Alexander grew up in Liberty City with a single mother and two sisters. “By most accounts and predictions based on statistics,” she said, “we were not expected to aspire to much.” Her fortunes changed, she said, when she landed in Breakthrough, still called Summerbridge at the time. After graduating from the program, she earned teaching degrees at Florida State and St. Thomas University. She is now a public-school teacher in Miami-Dade County, and director of operations and programming at DIBIA Dream, a youth education non-profit. “I still believe education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world,” Alexander said. “When you add elements of exposure, recreation, collegiality, leadership and genuine love – all of which Summerbridge provided me – the possibilities are endless.” Breakthrough students at the RE Middle School this winter.