Breakthrough SJC, an intensive six-week program, guides students during the summer through academic classes in order to prepare for the upcoming school year. Students arrive ready to learn every morning and are immediately greeted with a cheerful and passionate group of teachers. Every week, students are expected to attentively take notes and complete assigned homework. While many students successfully meet these expectations, there are a number of students who are recognized and praised for their overachieving effort.
Every summer we have a theme that we incorporate that encourages our students to overcome personal barriers. The summer theme for 2018 is “We Break Through.” We recognize that many of our students face many obstacles imposed by our society that can seem challenging, however, breakthrough strives and motivates our students to overcome them. This week specifically, Laila Cruz, 8th grader, has been honored to receive the Student of the Week certificate for her diligent work ethic.
We want to recognize Laila Cruz who has grown tremendously in these few weeks. At the beginning of the summer, Laila was a very quiet and reserved student. She wasn’t typically the type of student to express opinions or share ideas. However, her dedication and creative ideas were always seen in her assigned work. As the summer progressed, Laila found her voice. She was beginning to participate regularly and had clearly outgrown her shyness. She had blossomed into a confident student who was prepared to articulately share her ideas with her peers. She has greatly incorporated the theme “We Break Through”. Although her teachers were aware of this change, Laila was surprised to receive this award. In her words, Laila explains, “I never thought I’d get this award”. She felt as though she was “unnoticed” because she mostly kept to herself. She further states, “It was shocking how my actions could lead up to something that people actually see.” Finally, she expressed the happiness she felt knowing she was received this award. We hope to continue recognizing students as the summer comes to an end.