Changing Lives and Creating Leaders For more than three decades, Breakthrough Miami has served as a dynamic engine of opportunity in our community — igniting futures, nurturing potential, and preparing the next generation of leaders. Founded in 1991 at Ransom Everglades School by alumni John Flickinger ’74 and Doug Welser ’74, the program began as “Summerbridge,” with a bold mission: to support talented middle school students from under-resourced communities in overcoming barriers to academic success. Today, Breakthrough Miami is a nationally recognized model for out-of-school time learning and leadership development. With the continued partnership of Ransom Everglades and its alumni, Breakthrough Miami now serves more than 1,700 Scholars in grades 5-12 from more than 320 schools and 150 zip codes across South Florida, supported by 164 Teaching Fellows and 600 student volunteers each year. Breakthrough’s unique and powerful “students-teaching-students” model brings together motivated young learners with outstanding high school and college students who serve as mentors, teachers and role models. Opportunity Generator Breakthrough Miami offers an eight-year, tuition-free program that supports Scholars through elementary, middle and high school — and sets them on a path to college and career success. Core programming includes a rigorous six-week Summer Institute and robust Saturday sessions throughout the school year, providing academic enrichment and leadership development tailored to students’ developmental stage. Breakthrough Scholars benefit from more than 200 hours of our out-of-school academic instruction, individualized advising, and high school and college readiness and access programming. Consistently, Breakthrough Miami’s outcomes demonstrate unmatched impact: • 100% of Scholars graduate on time from high school • 98% enroll immediately in college • Over 90% take advanced coursework • Scholars are nearly twice as likely as their peers to complete college within six years Breakthrough’s research-based model is grounded in data showing that students from under-resourced communities often experience learning loss during the summer — up to five months in reading. Long-term engagement in high-quality out-of-school programs has been proven to improve academic performance, college readiness and life skills. Breakthrough tackles this challenge head-on, offering a supportive, engaging environment where students learn, grow and thrive year-round. Additionally, Breakthrough’s Teaching Fellowship — ranked by the Princeton Review as one of the top 10 service internships in the nation — offers high school and college students a handson leadership and teaching experience. A layered mentorship approach — pairing Scholars with Fellows, and Fellows with professional educators — creates a vibrant, supportive learning community. Near-peer mentoring has shown powerful results, with academic and social benefits for both mentors and mentees. A Growing Legacy Ransom Everglades proudly cultivated the foundation for Breakthrough Miami to expand and flourish. A game-changing $3.25 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2007 catalyzed expansion into a multi-site model, enabling the organization to bring its proven model to more Scholars and communities. Today, in addition to the Ransom Everglades School site, which serves more than 200 Scholars, Breakthrough is hosted at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Gulliver Preparatory, Miami Country Day School, Palmer Trinity School, Saint Andrew’s School, and the University of Miami. Breakthrough Miami continues to grow its reach and deepen its impact across South Florida and has earned numerous local and national accolades. Breakthrough Miami was selected Best Summer Learning Program in the country by the National Summer Learning Association and Program of the Year by The Children’s Trust and Volunteer Florida/AmeriCorps. Together, We Break Through The Ransom Everglades Alumni Association is proud to celebrate this powerful legacy of partnership. As Breakthrough continues to grow and evolve, it remains deeply rooted in the shared values of opportunity, service, rigor and excellence. Together, we are changing lives and creating leaders.
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