Students build academic confidence, a sense of what’s possible, and a college-going peer community.
Students grow as leaders, explore careers, and commit to right-fit schools they can afford to complete.
Students persist through challenges, build the skills and network they need, and earn their degree.
Teaching Fellows work with a qualified professionals to experience being at the front of a classroom.
We equip students who demonstrate remarkable promise and financial need to discover what’s possible, access and attain a college degree, and build lives of choice and purpose.
We make a bold 10-year commitment so students don’t just attend college. They thrive: financially prepared, clear on their purpose, shaped by real-world experience, and connected to a network of peers, mentors, and community that opens doors long after graduation.
Breakthrough Houston begins in middle school, when the decisions that shape college access are starting to form and when intervention has the power to change trajectory. We enter before academic paths narrow and before early screeners determine who gets opportunities later on.
Each student’s path is shaped by individualized advising and decision-making support, with Breakthrough Houston coordinating a network of partner programs and opportunities around each student.
Fellows are high school and college students who serve as teachers and near-peer mentors for Breakthrough’s middle school students, gaining real classroom experience and leaving inspired to become educators and education advocates.
of students grew or maintained academic performance
financially fit* college acceptance rate.
*No more than $5,000 annual financial gap
of students graduated from college
Summer programming previews next year’s core content and immerses students in a culture of academic joy. One student arrived holding back in class despite doing well academically — by fall, their school teachers were struck by how much they had grown in confidence, participation, and leadership.
BTH opens doors through hands-on electives, role model speakers, and field trips to workplaces like NASA. A student visited the Space Center, heard from engineers pursuing advanced degrees, and walked away newly lit up by what engineers actually do and who they are.
BTH connects students to competitive external opportunities, including university research programs.
One student participated in Carnegie Mellon’s SAMs program, built their application strategy around that experience, and was accepted to study Mechanical Engineering there; another’s summer cancer cell research through ACS Project SEED at UH helped them discover they wanted to study chemistry.
Students work through our week-long summer College Application Workshop to develop a strong personal statement and finalize their application strategy.
Students receive consistent, trusting 1:1 advising, including coaches who pick up the phone when a student is stranded after a delayed flight or just needs to talk without judgment.
BTH advisors work with students to build and adjust academic game plans, connecting them to tutoring, writing centers, and office hours so they can stay on track toward their degree.
BTH’s College Support Fund removes the concrete barriers that stand between students and their next step, covering costs they didn’t anticipate and can’t afford — flights home, winter gear, or the scrubs and stethoscope a student needed to start her internship
Fellows are high school or college students driven by community impact, exploring teaching as a career, or pursuing an education degree.
Fellows serve as primary teachers and near-peer mentors for Breakthrough’s middle school students during the summer program, gaining 50+ hours of real classroom experience.
Fellows leave inspired to carry their commitment forward — as educators, advocates, and mentors in Houston’s schools and communities.
