Roughly six weeks ago, I joined 29 other college students from across the country as we embarked on a week and a half of training designed to prepare us to teach an academic summer enrichment program to traditionally underserved middle school students from some of Atlanta's roughest areas - as if anything really can prepare you for the emotional rollercoaster middle schoolers ride.

Our students have traded six weeks of summer lounging for 7:30am-3:45pm school days with dreams of rising from the struggling public school system to rank among the nation's top scholars, athletes, and performers. As teachers, our job is to help make those dreams reality. Each day we are tutors, mentors, cheerleaders, disciplinarians, stand-up comedians, and marathon runners. Best of all, we are learners, as our students push us to become more challenging and engaging teachers. I spend my mornings teaching English, my afternoons teaching Theatre and assisting in Spanish and College Preparatory classes, and my evenings grading papers and writing lesson plans late into the night. I never thought I would find a job that left me with less free time than I have at Davidson!

BTA's morning affirmation ends with the assertion that "we are people of humility, wisdom, nurturing, and forgiveness." Each day I find myself striving to make my life more completely reflect those words. I arrived in Atlanta expecting to be a young adult making a difference in the lives of some underserved children. In the joys and struggles of everyday, I find Breakthrough and the young people who attend the program making a difference in me.

Laura Fontaine '09