by Andy Shin
Executive Director, Breakthrough SF
A bus full of Breakthrough students and tutors left SFDS on a sunny Saturday morning in late April, crossed the Bay Bridge, and headed down University Avenue to the UC Berkeley campus.
At Cal, students and tutors broke into small groups for a scavenger hunt. We visited Moffit Library; learned the height of the Campanile; checked out the Haas Pavilion, home court for many a basketball legend; and rolled down the 4.0 Hill, an act that is rumored to boost your grade point average. (We later awarded Cal paraphernalia, like pencils and T-shirts, to students with complete answer sheets). Students also watched a student dance performance and had the chance to interview Cal students about college life─majors, lecture halls, dormitories, clubs, and all the rest.
Our students are still young─fifth- and sixth-graders─and college is a long way off. We don’t want to concern them at this point with the logistics of the application process, for instance. However, it’s important for them to be excited about college and to believe it is part of their future. Most Breakthrough students will be pioneers─the first in their families to attend a four-year school.
On the school bus back to the San Francisco, our students returned to their fifth- and sixth-grade selves, telling jokes and counting the different types of cars we passed. Our hope, though, is that their sojourn on the Cal campus will stay with them in the long run.
