Breakthrough Manchester 2022 Annual Report

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF BREAKTHROUGHS IN STORIES
Beginning with our founding as told by Marc Hurlbut, The Derryfield
Head of School, 1982-1994, we shared personal stories of Breakthrough
student, teacher, and staff alumni over the course of the year. These stories
brought to light how Breakthrough has grown and adapted to continuously
strengthen the path to college for students while also training future
teachers and leaders through our students-teaching-students dual mission.
Breakthrough
was meant to be!
“My college journey started when I was
11 and I know if it wasn’t for the continuous
support, encouragement, and opportunities
supplied by Breakthrough Manchester that
I wouldn’t be the nurse I am today!”
— Lainee Shaughnessy,
BTM Student & Teaching Fellow Alumna,
Elliott Hospital ER Nurse
Tinyhood Founder “leaned
into discomfort” to launch
a thriving startup!
Susan Beaudry Blinn, Breakthrough
Student and Teaching Intern Alumna
There’s a reason Susan Beaudry Blinn’s phone
still has a favorite photo of herself as the student
speaker at 1997’s Breakthrough Manchester
(then known as Summerbridge) Celebration!
It wasn’t until she was a Teaching Intern herself
that she retrospectively realized she had been
chosen as the speaker because she was one
A Golden Ticket to
Harvard University
Chau Ngo, BTM Student & Teaching
Fellow Alumna, Program Director 2018-22
In 5th grade, Chau Ngo got her golden ticket
– a hall pass to go to the library to learn about
Summerbridge, known today as Breakthrough
Manchester. This was the beginning of her
Breakthrough journey from McLaughlin
Middle School to Harvard University!
Lainee, second from left,
as a BTM Teaching Fellow
of the shyest students. The Breakthrough norm,
“lean into discomfort” is what put Susan on her
path to college, computer science engineering,
and ultimately co-founding her own company.
Chau pictured with “future BTM
Program Director” on career day
Joel Vargas from
Coast to Coast
“Everything was always a stretch assignment
with Breakthrough…it stretches you beyond
what you think you can achieve and with the
right support you become what you couldn’t
have imagined yourself to be!”
— Joel Vargas, Breakthrough San Francisco
Student Alumnus, Breakthrough
Manchester Director
Joel’s parents put education first and dreamed
of him attending Harvard one day! As a
student in his working-class Bay Area school,
Joel didn’t realize he should be learning a
Siblings, Teaching and
Learning Together at
Breakthrough
Lajla and Dalila’s parents moved to the United
States from Bosnia in 2001 to give their
future family a better life. They had completed
trade school in Bosnia, but the US educational
system was not familiar to them. However, they
ingrained in their daughters that college is an
expectation and Breakthrough Manchester is
helping them meet this expectation.
Visit our 30th Anniversary page at BreakthroughManchester.org
to enjoy the stories in full.
Breakthrough Manchester was humbled
and honored to be chosen as the recipient
of memorial gifts for Nancy Tessier.
Breakthrough and the world of education
lost a shining star. Nancy was a true
advocate for equitable education. As
stated in her obituary, “Nancy was deeply
devoted to educating Manchester’s
children, but also to cultivating and
Joel with Lynn Sorensen,
Breakthrough’s first director
lot more to achieve his dream of going to
college. Breakthrough helped get him to
Boston University and on to Harvard
Graduate School of Education.
Lajla
With Lajla as a Teaching Intern and Dalila
as a 7th-grade student last school year, the
Husejnovic sisters enjoyed a unique
opportunity to be Breakthrough Teachers
and Learners together!
Remembering Nancy Tessier
A hero, a mentor, a critical friend
to and builder of Breakthrough!
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for a program like this!”
— Nancy on the Founding of Summerbridge
(Breakthrough Manchester) in 1991
Dalila
mentoring the next generation of teachers.
As a colleague, union negotiator, assistant
principal, and principal, and later as
assistant superintendent and a school
board member, Nancy’s advocacy for
both students and teachers influenced
the Manchester School District at every
level.” Her goals and Breakthrough’s dual
mission aligned perfectly!
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