About Us
Breakthrough Atlanta's History
Breakthrough Atlanta celebrated its inaugural summer in 1996 on the campus of The Lovett School. That year, 40 motivated middle school students participated in their first summer experience. Six years later, those students graduated from high school-and 34 of them went on to pursue higher education in a university or college setting.
Since Breakthrough Atlanta's beginning, the program has served more than 300 young teachers and more than 700 students from Metro Atlanta's public schools. Of those students, 85 percent have gone on to college. 62 percent were the first in their families to attend college, ending a cycle of generational poverty.
Breakthrough Atlanta is a member of a thriving national network called Breakthrough Collaborative with 29 affiliates operating 35 programs in 27 cities across the country and in Hong Kong.
Breakthrough programs have received numerous accolades. For example, in 2007, Breakthrough was named a top summer learning program by Johns Hopkins University. We are also proud to say that once again the Princeton Review has chosen Breakthrough as one of the top ten internships in the United States.
Testimonial
"Two years ago, Breakthrough became a very intricate component in helping me to navigate the college application process. I attended a Workshop with admissions representatives from Cornell University, Columbia University, Bryn Mawr College, and Barnard College; which were all my top choices. Attending the session twice, through the intimate conversations with the representatives I was able to learn lots more about the institutions and develop very close relationships with each of the representatives.
"Later, when I saw the Cornell representative at another event, he immediately remembered me and said, "Briana, from Atlanta, with Breakthrough." I believe that this session helped my application stand out from the thousands of other applicants and made me an admitted student at Cornell University and Bryn Mawr College."
- Briana Fullwood, Breakthrough Atlanta Alumni, Cornell University Class of 2015
