Street:  Heard you’re doing something cool this summer!  What are you doing?

NS:  Besides rehearsing for Front Row’s NSO show Edges and serving as Mask and Wig’s Digital Chair, I am working for a wonderful organization called the Breakthrough Collaborative.  I teach writing and provide counseling for rising 9thgraders from public schools in the Greater Philadelphia area!

 

Street:  What exactly does Breakthrough Collaborative do for these kids?

NS:  Breakthrough has a two-part mission.  The first and most important is that it takes students with high potential from poorly funded schools and gives them the opportunity to attend an intensive program every summer between grades 6 and 9 (and a few times throughout the school year) to prepare themselves to succeed in classes the coming year and ultimately to go to college.  In addition, it provides them with application counseling, mentoring and tutoring, free of cost.  The second part of Breakthrough’s mission is to take successful college students interested in the field of education and train them to teach and mentor students, which is where I come in!  Breakthrough has consistently been ranked among the top internships available to college students in the U.S., and it is seriously a humbling honor for me to be able to teach for them.

 

Street:  What do work on specifically as both a teacher and a mentor?

NS:  Regarding teaching, I am specifically working with the kids on two units: writing personal memoir essays and synthesis essays from a literary text.  Think of it like a short-term writing seminar for high school pre-frosh.  I also teach a creative writing elective, but that is solely for fun and the kids and I usually laugh our faces off during that class.  As a mentor, I work intensively with 6 students in particular to give them personal advising, goal-setting techniques, study skills, and to discuss anything on their mind really.  Basically, I serve as a go-to person if they have any issues they need to discuss and to make sure they are getting the most out of their summers.  Mentoring is hands-down my favorite part of my job because I get to forge really deep relationships with my mentees and directly inspire and assist them on a daily basis.

 

Street:  Can you describe a typical day at Breakthrough?

NS:  I usually arrive at school around 7:30 to prep my classroom for the day.  The school day runs from 9:00 to 4:30, during which time kids attend four classes, two electives, lunch, recess, mentoring sessions and an awesome daily pep rally (for which I’m the Emcee!)  After the kids leave, the teachers have a faculty meeting that can end as early as 6:00 or last as late as 10 or 11 PM.  It’s pretty intense.

 

Street:  It certainly sounds like it!  How many kids do you teach?

NS:  Between my two classes, I teach 25 kids.  I also have 11 in my elective class, and then there are the six kids whom I mentor.

Street:  Wow.  I can barely handle one 9th grader on a daily basis (my little brother…hey, John!).  How do you manage so many of them??

NS:  It might help that I’m an only child!  But really, even when they get on my nerves, I care too much about them to take it personally.  I see so much potential in them, and for a lot of these kids no one has ever told them they have potential, so they give a lot of respect in return.  The wonderful thing about kids, no matter what age, is that they will usually reciprocate whatever behaviors you exhibit toward them.  I’ve made an effort to truly open my heart up to these kids, and in turn they have welcomed me into theirs, especially in their essays.  I’ve learned more from reading these students’ writing than I have in many of my Penn classes.

 

Street:  Where are you staying in Philadelphia?

NS: I’m living in my off-campus house with several other members of Mask and Wig.

 

Street: How is living in Philly over the summer different from living there during the school year?

NS: Philly is surprisingly beautiful over the summer.  It’s quieter and calmer, which is a nice change.  It also smells less like stale beer and frat boy vomit, and more like smog and automobile exhaust.  My only complaint is that the 38th St. Bridge is under construction, so I can never walk down Locust!

 

Street:  What’s the coolest thing that’s happened to you at Breakthrough so far?

NS:  In general, seeing the difference I am making and earning the respect of my students has been endlessly rewarding.  The coolest, though?  Well, I have one student in particular who presents some extra challenges and one day after class last week he told me I was the first teacher to ever make writing fun for him.  That blew my mind!

 

Street:  Do you think you’ll want to continue teaching in the future?

NS:  I went into this summer thinking I wanted my end goal to be working in public policy, but after this experience, I am seriously considering becoming a teacher instead.  I also want to clear up a common misconception.  Some people say “those who can’t do, teach.”  Whoever crafted that [has] clearly never been a teacher.  This is the hardest job I have ever had.  It is physically, mentally and emotionally taxing.  At the end of the day, though, it is also the most rewarding experience I could have ever desired.  Watching these kids grow is a privilege, and having even a small part in it is an overwhelming honor.  So back to your first question… What am I doing for the summer?  I’m not just teaching.  I’m learning.