Breakthrough Kicks Off 31st Summer!
Reach For The Stars - Visit Breakthrough!
Meet Our Teaching Fellows!
New Derryfield Head - No Stranger to Breakthrough
Celebrating 30 Years of Breakthroughs!
Breakthrough Manchester Kicks off 31st Summer!
G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G!
Good Morning! Hey, Hey! Good Morning!

We were delighted to greet students off the bus on Monday with high fives and cheers for Breakthrough’s first in-person summer in THREE years! The energy and spirit of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders on campus together is what Breakthrough is supposed to be!

The first day culminated in a new “Clap in! Clap out!” tradition highlighting the full cycle of Breakthrough’s six-year program. We welcomed new 7th (and, this year, 8th) grade students with a “Clap In” and celebrated our first three classes of College-Bound graduates from the classes of 2020-2022 with a “Clap Out!”

Each Breakthrough graduate:

Shared a piece of advice
  • Try new things because you’ll never know what you’ll like!
  • Slow down, and live in the moment
  • Step out of your comfort zone
  • Always ask for help when you need it
  • Work hard for what you are passionate about
  • Don’t be so hard on yourself
  • Accept failure
  • Get involved and stay involved
  • Trust your gut and believe in yourself

Summed up Breakthrough in one word
  • Support
  • Community
  • Family
  • Growth
  • Evolving
  • Change
  • Networking
  • Breakalicous!

This new tradition kicks off the Breakthrough summer with a reminder of the ultimate goal of Breakthrough Manchester - college! The Alumni loved connecting with our middle school students and mentioned how inspiring it would have been if they had had this same inspiration as incoming 7th graders. To top it all off, the event culminated with a visit from the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck which was very popular on a steamy afternoon. 

“Reach for the Stars!” is our goal for the summer with a theme of astronomy. The Derryfield middle school has been transformed into outer space complete with a solar system, aliens, and spaceships.

Students and Teaching Fellows are the shining stars!
Reach for the Stars - visit us this summer!
Visitor Days are Back! Join us this summer to experience the Breakthrough Spirit and kick off your day with cheers and a little bit of learning!
Join us the morning of at 8:00 for cheers:

Thursday, July 7
Tuesday, July 12
Thursday, July 21
Tuesday, July 26
Tuesday, August 2

*These dates don't work?
Reach out to visit another time!
Meet our 2022 Teaching Fellows!
Rue Amorim, School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
Shayla Ashley, Boston University
Emerson Bracy, Colby College
Romy Candon, Pitzer College
Marco Caraballo, Saint Leo University
Carl Desir, Boston College
Tu Anh Duong, University of New Hampshire
Camille Gallagher, St. Michael’s College
Shoshi Gordon, Bowdoin College
Alyssa Hamilton, Keene State College
Sabrina Hart-Meyer, George Washington University
Miles Johnstone, Keene State College
Justin Krukar, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lena Leavitt, Tufts University
Mary Matheson, Merrimack High School
Silas Olsen, Colby College
Charlotte Powell, St. Lawrence University
Aleigha Raymond, University of New Hampshire
Ulinma Stanley, Nashua North High School
Caroline Thirkill, Barnard College
Carly Torrance, Springfield College
Kieran Whitney, Brandeis Univesity
Morgan Zifchak, St. Michael’s College
Derryfield's New Head of School -
No Stranger to Breakthrough!
Breakthrough Manchester is excited to welcome The Derryfield School’s 9th Head on July 1 with a touch of the Breakthrough spirit! Breakthrough cheers will be heard across campus and a petting zoo with lambs, chickens, and ponies for our 7th and 8th graders will be outside his office window. 

Andy Chappell has deep ties to The Derryfield School and Breakthrough Manchester! Andy’s wife Kate Hurlbut Chappell is a Derryfield alumna of the class of 1993, and she served as a Breakthrough Manchester (then known as Summerbridge) Teaching Fellow for five summers!

Kate jokes that she started her own Derryfield education at age seven. That’s because her father, Marc Hurlbut enjoyed a very successful tenure as head of school from 1982 to 1993 - the longest in Derryfield’s history. 

In fact, it was Marc Hurlbut, Andy’s father-in-law, who actually founded Breakthrough Manchester at The Derryfield School in 1991! In Andy’s welcome letter to The Derryfield School community, he shares, “I was delighted to see that Breakthrough Manchester is thriving, as it serves as a clear symbol of Derryfield’s commitment to the greater Manchester community and a model of how the School can extend its footprint beyond the 400 students it serves each year.”

Andy is joining The Derryfield School after a distinguished 25-year career at The Roxbury Latin School. Deb, Chau, and Alice (the Breakthrough team) were delighted to be able to sit down with Andy on his first visit to campus and share Breakthrough’s 30-year history--as well as our plans for the future.
 
We look forward to welcoming Andy, Kate, and their two children, Brady (18) and Samantha (15) to the Breakthrough and Derryfield communities this summer!
Hybrid Rainbow