Michael Schweisheimer (00:00.181)
intro. I'm also Michelle. Have you have you seen Kenny story?
Michelle Palmer (00:07.416)
Yes. Candy store, yes.
Michael Schweisheimer (00:09.653)
All right. Have you guys seen it recently or no? So I'll probably play it back during the podcast just so that we're able to all share that experience, you know, recently to have and we could talk about it if we want while it's going. Usually we yeah, so just, you know, we can do whatever the heck we want. This is our podcast. It's our time. So with that, like, please.
Michelle Palmer (00:12.11)
No.
Michelle Palmer (00:21.427)
that's nice. Okay.
Michelle Palmer (00:35.076)
I did have one quick question. When does it, when will this air?
Michael Schweisheimer (00:38.581)
We will. So I'm going to mention this later. We're right now we're about to release for April. We're going to be releasing an episode with the Tia Harmon from Black Girls Love Math, who you probably know. So I'll bring that up a little bit later. So our plan is as you're about to hear in the opening, our next slam is May 12. So we will probably release this probably first week of May. So that's my that's our plan.
Michelle Palmer (00:50.708)
Yes, I know it's here. Yeah. Okay.
Michelle Palmer (00:59.436)
Okay.
Michael Schweisheimer (01:08.531)
Yep. So with that, I'm just going to start with reading in the opening and you'll you'll know when it's all your turn. OK, so.
It's time for the Mission Story Slam podcast brought to you by PWP Video. I'm Michael Schweishammer, the executive producer at PWP Video, Mission Story Slam, and I'm also an avid cyclist who is a bit too excited that the weather has finally started to break so I can ride on the regular once again. So now that it's spring, what else is happening? It is time for Mission Story Slam 14, which will be on Tuesday, May 12th at Philadelphia's only certified B-court brewery, Triple Bottom Brewing.
and the theme for this one is going to be no judgment. We're gonna open the doors a bit early this time at 530, keeping stories at seven. So we're including food with your tickets, so I suggest arriving a little early. So buffet is gonna be in the back room, and if you're on the later side, you're never gonna get through a crowd of all the people and friends you're gonna know to get there, so show up on the early side. We do still have a cash bar.
all the delicious triple bottom beers and this time I'm offering to buy you a drink if you volunteer to tell a story. Doesn't matter if your name is drawn or not I will grab you a beer. So besides the new location we're also excited to welcome our new sponsor the Energy Co-op. PwP video gets all of our renewable energy both gas and electricity from the Energy Co-op. And I still have to shout out our media partners we're thrilled about the Philadelphia Citizen.
Michelle Palmer (02:19.008)
Thank
Michelle Palmer (02:31.681)
Thank
Michael Schweisheimer (02:42.673)
On today's episode of the Mission Story Slam podcast, we're also doing something new with something that's been around. So back at Mission Story Slam 11, which was way back in December, 2024, the theme was, It's a Family Affair. And one of our storytellers that night was Kenny Chu, who told the story about multiple families he belongs to because of the organization Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia. So I want to start by listening to his story, but when we come back, not only will we have Kenny with us,
Michelle Palmer (02:57.12)
.
Michael Schweisheimer (03:10.687)
but will also be joined by Michelle Palmer, the executive director of Breakthrough. So that's our little new piece. But here's Kenny's story. And now I'm going to fumble with sharing the screen because that's what it's not that bad, Kenny. Don't worry. But then we're to be able to hear your story together. I know you cannot wait.
All right, you guys can see that. Cool. Here we go.
Kenny Chiu (03:36.696)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Schweisheimer (03:42.207)
Can you hear it?
Kenny Chiu (03:44.174)
Yeah.
Michelle Palmer (03:44.435)
you
Michelle Palmer (03:49.695)
Thank
Michelle Palmer (04:07.494)
.
Michelle Palmer (05:40.156)
.
Michelle Palmer (06:06.588)
Thank
Michelle Palmer (06:38.042)
.
Kenny Chiu (10:42.222)
you
Michael Schweisheimer (10:43.455)
Kenny.
Michelle Palmer (10:43.78)
It just makes me smile so much Kenny. I love that. my goodness
Kenny Chiu (10:48.428)
Yeah, that was really nerve-racking for me, but I feel like I came out of it a little more confident in myself.
Michelle Palmer (10:56.264)
Definitely. And what a difference a year looks. You look so different right now. I'm like, my gosh. What a difference. But you did amazing.
Michael Schweisheimer (11:05.877)
Yeah, I've got Kenny to Michelle Palmer welcoming me both to the mission story slam podcast. That was fun. I think I had fun. I know this is an audio podcast, but I get to see everybody here. And watching how embarrassed Kenny was as his story was going by was awesome. Just what were you telling me you were saying before we started Kenny that there's some research about people hating themselves on video? Is that
Kenny Chiu (11:31.212)
Yeah, from everyone who like speaks, gives a speech or like is on a podcast, I feel like they always feel like when they're rewatching it, it's worse than it actually was in real life. So I'm hoping that's true in my case.
Michael Schweisheimer (11:45.174)
Well, I mean, you just heard from yeah, you were great. You really were. It was hysterical and you heard the whole audience laughing, too, which is another good sign. And I think they were laughing at jokes, not at you. So. All right. So listen, this story was from December 24. Like, give us an update. Did you go to grad school? Did you become a teacher? Like, what's going on?
Michelle Palmer (11:46.024)
You were great.
Michelle Palmer (11:53.903)
Yes.
Kenny Chiu (11:55.822)
Definitely.
Kenny Chiu (12:06.69)
Yeah, so I was accepted into grad school, thankfully. But I was pretty confident because not lots of people want to be teachers these days. But yeah, grad school, applied, accepted. So I'm now at the end of my 10-month program at Penn's Graduate School of Education. yeah, half of that program is taking classes.
at night and then the other half is student teaching during the day. So, yeah, about a month away from completing my program. I've been student teaching at the Academy at Palumbo since August and September. So, about to finish that and then onto the job search process where I'll figure out where I'll end up teaching full time.
Michael Schweisheimer (12:44.242)
cool.
Michael Schweisheimer (12:55.423)
So you're from both, if I remember somewhere either in your story or somewhere, I think you said you're South Philly and Chinatown is where you're from. So Academy of Palumbos down in the neighborhood for you, right?
Kenny Chiu (13:03.989)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kenny Chiu (13:08.3)
That's right. It's really weird teaching less than a mile where I grew up.
Michael Schweisheimer (13:14.431)
So what are you teaching or and what are you what kind of a teacher are you studying or planning to become?
Kenny Chiu (13:21.71)
Yeah, I'm a social studies teacher. I've been teaching social science slash civics this year under my mentor teacher. So it started off as just the first month watching him and then it was taking one of his class periods then taking two of his class periods and now I'm taking three of his class periods. So yeah, it's the perfect I think transition.
just like breakthrough, I feel like there needs to be this transition period where you have some responsibility and also some guidance and mentorship. So yeah, really appreciative of my mentor, Charlie McGeehan, who actually just won the Philadelphia Citizen Educator of the Year Award. So yeah, he's been a great mentor to learn under, just the way he shows his belief in students to.
Michael Schweisheimer (14:03.379)
Hey, look at that.
Michelle Palmer (14:04.816)
That's nice.
Kenny Chiu (14:12.974)
to be leaders in the classroom and to be leaders in the community is really important in social studies. So there's a lot of collaboration going on, a lot of thinking outside the box, things like that.
Michael Schweisheimer (14:24.949)
That's absolutely fantastic. So congratulations to your mentor. I also, so you're doing civics and social studies now. What are you planning to teach after you complete your program at grad school?
Kenny Chiu (14:39.246)
Yeah, after grad school I'm applying to social studies positions so it'll be up to the school since I'll be I guess the with the least seniority I'll have the social studies topic that the other social studies teachers won't want to teach but I'll be happy with any of the subjects.
Michael Schweisheimer (15:01.333)
Hey, I'm going to interrupt for there's a lot of background for someone. there people talking near?
Kenny Chiu (15:07.95)
It's me, I can move to my room. I'm in the living room and it's not a lot going on, but he's just speaking in his room.
Michael Schweisheimer (15:12.661)
There's a lot going on.
Michael Schweisheimer (15:18.023)
Okay, yeah, I think maybe moving your room is a good idea because it's coming through pretty strong. So we'll let you do that. No, it's it is life is life. And that's what happens. This member I was saying we edit this is why. And actually, I've got someone I can hear just arrived here and they're banging equipment cases. Let me just tell them what's going on real fast.
Kenny Chiu (15:20.374)
Okay. Okay, got you, my apologies.
Michelle Palmer (15:32.175)
.
Michael Schweisheimer (15:44.895)
Just, know, I'm recording a podcast.
Michelle Palmer (15:50.914)
Kenny, when you get a second, check your email and let us know if you can come to the soiree.
Michael Schweisheimer (15:53.567)
Thank you.
Kenny Chiu (15:55.813)
wait, I saw it. I just forgot to respond, but the answer is yes, and I'll respond. I'll respond.
Michelle Palmer (15:57.902)
Okay, okay, okay, okay, cool.
Michael Schweisheimer (16:01.971)
Hey, guys, sorry about that. One of my colleagues is here. all right, Michelle, let me I was going to ask you a question. So let me know when you get what you're getting as well.
Michelle Palmer (16:18.957)
Okay, I'm back on my desk.
Michael Schweisheimer (16:20.405)
Cool. All right. So, Michelle, I know I remember meeting the other Michelle from Breakthrough Philadelphia, the Story Slam, but I cannot for the life of me remember if you were there that night or not. Okay. So were you involved in helping to get Kenny to the Story Slam to tell that story or was that all Michelle Reyes Aletti?
Michelle Palmer (16:29.633)
Yes. No, I wasn't there that night. No.
Michelle Palmer (16:45.069)
think it was mostly Michelle Reyes-Holetti. mean, she definitely ran it by me. of course I was like, of course, because Kenny is one of the best teachers we've had. But I don't want to that, edit that out. But he's an amazing teacher. They're all great. So yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (17:02.225)
Okay, I got you. So why? What were you when you heard about the story slam and the idea of having Kenny come out and talk like, is this something that you guys try to do is ask breakthrough teachers like Kenny to try to help inspire other teachers?
Michelle Palmer (17:19.884)
So yeah, I mean, I think that we definitely want to inspire other teachers, but for this type of podcast, I thought that Kenny would be a natural. Just seeing how he was at Breakthrough and, you know, we try to make Breakthrough a lot of fun, right? So the teachers come in, they dress up, they get into the spirit, Y2K day, throwbacks, all types of things. And Kenny always got into the spirit of any type of dress up for the kids. You know, he was never afraid to like, some people were like, I don't want to do that.
He's down for everything and that's how he is with his kids and he fully embraces everything in the classroom and that's why he's an amazing educator. He meets the kids where they are and that's a big key into teaching.
Michael Schweisheimer (18:03.558)
That's Kenny. I'm sure that's why they're calling you onk because I mean That's a that's huge compliment. Not everyone gets called onk By the way, I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that there is a cattail in your
Michelle Palmer (18:06.772)
Yes.
Kenny Chiu (18:11.968)
Not everyone.
Michelle Palmer (18:12.324)
No.
Kenny Chiu (18:18.734)
That's my son.
Michael Schweisheimer (18:21.651)
That's cool. I've got two just not in my office.
Michelle Palmer (18:24.788)
that was a real cat? Okay.
Michael Schweisheimer (18:28.661)
I think the cat's going to stick around too. It's fine. It doesn't impact us. So Kenny, how do you remember the lead up to coming to Mission Story Slam? Was Michelle Rasoletti like twisting your arm or were you like, seem like someone who would be quick to get into a room and share a story like that.
Kenny Chiu (18:48.99)
yeah, she approached me with the idea. I'm happy to do anything for breakthrough, but that wasn't like a environment I was really accustomed to or, or really like, I don't want to say excited about, but I kind of don't like crowds. I know as a teacher, students think we're all extroverted, but I'm actually pretty introverted. so yeah, it was, but I said yes because I felt supported.
Obviously them choosing me, I felt like was also supporting. And yeah, I felt good about it. I knew that it was an audience that wanted to hear a genuine story. So I think the idea of approaching it was kind of having an idea of what I want to say, but also letting the story come out in the moment.
Michael Schweisheimer (19:38.239)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Schweisheimer (19:42.026)
Well, definitely it felt both planned and live because I liked how you broke it down into your different families to go with the whole family affair theme. That worked really well. And yeah, you know, I know that's a bit of a different environment. Michelle, do you know has breakthrough use Kenny story at all on social like did you know that that video is out there floating around for you to use?
Michelle Palmer (19:48.092)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Palmer (20:08.135)
I didn't know the video was floating around. I swear I had heard that video. But I don't think we've used it on social, which we need to. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll definitely have to use that.
Michael Schweisheimer (20:16.839)
It's right there for you, yeah.
Is is finding teachers like Kenny like? Well, first of all, actually, Kenny, when you found Breakthrough, were you already studying to be an educator or were you not sure if that was what you were going to do?
Kenny Chiu (20:31.694)
Yeah, so I think it was I was a year away from graduating With no idea what I wanted to do. So that was really really scary. It's really really stressful and I heard about breakthrough and Yeah, I I didn't know if I loved or hate teaching yet but I did it for a summer the idea going into it was like If I hate it, I won't have to do it again. And if I love it, I finally found something that I want to do
So I really, really loved the summer. was one of the best summers of my life. And I think especially it, something being hard and difficult, but also fun is what was like a sign that it was something that I really wanted to do. So yeah, I guess a few thanks for Breakthrough for alleviating a lot of stress. You know, 21. that's right. That was also stressful, but yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (21:22.173)
I mean, until they made you get on a stage and tell your story, but...
Kenny Chiu (21:27.502)
I went from like a 21 year old kid, I have no idea what he wanted to do upon graduation. And then now, because of that experience, finding out that that was my passion and something that I could be great at was awesome. Yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (21:47.423)
Michelle, what's it like hearing Kenny talk like this?
Michelle Palmer (21:50.57)
It's great. this just reminded me of like, is why, this is why, you know, we don't make education a requirement for our college students, right? We want to bring people in from different majors. I mean, of course I want to welcome all the education majors in as teaching fellows, but I also want to welcome in people who really may not know like.
what they want to do yet. And then they wind up in education and then stay in education because I feel like those teachers are really like more successful because you're really choosing this path and you really have a passion that you're like, you know what? This is actually what I want to do. I could be doing anything and I'm going to teach and I want to be here and I want to do this with the kids. I mean, he's graduated from University of Penn, right? He could be like write his ticket to go anywhere. And as he said, people are not like banging at the door to be an educator. And so
For him to find his passion with us just warms my heart and just makes me more excited about what we're doing with our teaching fellows.
Michael Schweisheimer (22:49.749)
Can you I think this is probably a good time. Can you explain a little bit about how Breakthrough Greater Philadelphia has a dual mission? Because it's not it's not just to teach a recruitment, right?
Michelle Palmer (22:59.395)
Right, so we're an academic enrichment program. We serve children in grades five through 12. And we're also a teacher training program. So our teachers are with us in the summertime. We're a free academic enrichment program, I will say that. Our teachers are with us in the summertime for nine weeks. They come for the first two weeks of June, they're with us and they get intense training and classroom management, pedagogy, that, know, DEI, everything it takes to be a teacher.
Kenny Chiu (23:00.632)
you
Michelle Palmer (23:29.23)
And then in the third week, the students arrive and they start teaching. And when they start teaching, it's like real world experience. And they do this under the guidance of master teachers who are either from the Philadelphia School District or Germantown Friends School where we are located. And they get feedback every day. They get observed every day, but it's a real chance for them to be the up in the front teacher. A lot of times, some of our teachers who are education majors, they have to wait until they're
third or fourth year to do their practicum, is their field experience and everything like that. And they don't get a chance to really have their own classroom. And at Breakthrough, we allow that. But the other core of our mission is really providing academic enrichment for middle school and high school students that are typically from public charter or parochial schools in Philadelphia. And so we provide extra academic support for them in either math, science, literature, and writing. And they also get a chance to take an elective course in the summer.
and we also provide field trips. So we're not a camp, we are an academic program, but we try to make it a lot of fun like the students are in camp for the summer because essentially they're in summer school.
Michael Schweisheimer (24:38.557)
And I got the impression that there's all is there a part of the program that's happening during the school year as well? Or is it just
Michelle Palmer (24:45.811)
Yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, we're year round program. So the summertime we had the students are with us for six weeks, starting the third week in June up until the first week in August. And then school year program goes from September to May every set every Saturday, most Saturdays, I would say, except for like holidays from every from 10 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And during that time, we changed the curriculum a little bit because it's trying to fit in all those different core subjects. It's just not possible. So.
We focus on humanities and math, and then the students also have the opportunity to take an elective course. And then we do more career conversations on Saturday. So every Saturday we bring in somebody from a different career field. You're welcome to join us one day, Michael, if you have the interest, and talk about how you, you know, but we bring in different people to let them know, give them exposure so they, know, sky's the limit of what they can do in life. So.
Michael Schweisheimer (25:29.813)
Cool, cool,
Michelle Palmer (25:38.994)
Everybody is not going to be a doctor or lawyer. We want them to know that there are so many different career paths out there and things you can do. that's essentially what Breakthrough is.
Michael Schweisheimer (25:48.534)
So Kenny, long did you participate in Breakthrough? And were you doing this during the academic year as well as on the summer, or was it just a summer program for you?
Kenny Chiu (25:58.873)
Right. I started in the summer because it was spring and then I had to find a summer job or summer internship. So I landed at Breakthrough for the summer. I taught history and then the summer was over and I was graciously extended an invitation to return for the school year because I was still in the city. And yeah, really I think I was committed to teaching at that time, but I think it was like
I needed that confirmation of doing something like teaching for more than a summer. So I decided to take on every Saturday during my senior year of college and really enjoyed that as well. So one year in total, one summer and then one school year.
Michael Schweisheimer (26:40.51)
And
Michael Schweisheimer (26:45.053)
And was it, is this like a paid internship for you in terms of helping you save up for paying for education or at least offsetting your costs?
Michelle Palmer (26:50.505)
Thank
Kenny Chiu (26:52.428)
absolutely. I know Breakthrough has worked really hard to make sure that students or their teaching fellows have stipends as well as a living situation. I know that their fellows have not always had that privilege that the teaching fellows in my years have had. So definitely very grateful for that. And yeah, I guess I'm not sure if many...
People in college would be willing to do it without those benefits. So I'm really glad that Breakthrough is able to offer that.
Michelle Palmer (27:27.973)
Yeah, we do pay and we also provide meals for when our teaching fellows are with us so they don't have to worry about food. They get their lunch with us for free. We also provide transpasses for students, teaching fellows who, and our students, but teaching fellows who may live locally that need to get back and forth. We provide transpasses for them as well and for the ones that we put into dorm situations.
Michael Schweisheimer (27:28.041)
I'm
Michelle Palmer (27:53.021)
And then we do provide housing for some of the ones that are from out of state, right? So we have partnerships with some of the local universities and they provide housing so the teaching fellows can be with us in the summertime. And Breakthrough is one of 25, we're a part of an international affiliation organization, so we're one of 25 affiliates.
Michael Schweisheimer (28:08.658)
OK.
Michael Schweisheimer (28:12.425)
So do you end up with a lot of students that aren't from Philadelphia or like do Philadelphia students kind of come home from school and work with Breakthrough in Philly before they go back?
Michelle Palmer (28:20.732)
So it's usually about half and half. So last year we had 34 teaching fellows and 16 were from out of state. we had a good amount that we want to get a lot of local teaching fellows so they can stay local to Philadelphia and maybe, you know, teach in our Philadelphia school district like Kenny. But, know, we welcome other people to come to our city and maybe they'll fall in love with Philadelphia like Kennedy. There was another teaching fellow who's still here from Louisiana who is teaching in Philadelphia. Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (28:36.937)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Schweisheimer (28:48.703)
cool, that's awesome. So Kenny, did you find out about Breakthrough?
Do you remember? It's okay if you don't.
Michelle Palmer (29:02.908)
That's a good question. I wanted to know that also as he was talking about me.
Kenny Chiu (29:05.518)
you
Oh, let me tag the question. I found out about Breakthrough through someone else in my Urban Studies program. She had also heard about Breakthrough and she was going to do Breakthrough in Miami. And then she told me about Breakthrough. I didn't feel like going anywhere that summer. So thankfully there was a Philadelphia location where I could see my parents on the weekends and still do Breakthrough during the week.
So yeah, random friend in my major in college.
Michael Schweisheimer (29:42.972)
And I'm kind of curious with so you're doing urban studies. And then when you got to breakthrough, you were teaching it sounds like humanities and history is what you were working on. And now you're doing social studies. So you've stayed in humanities. Like did do you think that? Like, did you choose to teach history or did breakthrough suggests that you teach that like, because it seems like that's had a big impact, not just on you being a teacher, but the type of teacher you're becoming.
Kenny Chiu (30:12.364)
Yeah, I told them I wouldn't teach anything but humanities, anything in that area, because that's not a huge STEM person. Don't want to set the kids back if I taught STEM, but I really, really love the humanities. Of course, there are other teaching fellows who really, really love STEM and are great teachers of that. And then there are also the teaching fellows who are like, I'm open to whatever. And that's also really cool to see them maybe move.
Michelle Palmer (30:21.306)
Thank you.
Michael Schweisheimer (30:24.028)
Hahaha
Kenny Chiu (30:42.048)
subjects from summer to summer or from the summer to school year. So I would say there's a wide variety, but for me personally, it was definitely something in the humanities field or else I'm not doing it.
Michael Schweisheimer (30:55.291)
And Michelle, do you get a lot of students who are like, you know, only, only certain things.
Michelle Palmer (31:01.053)
We do and you sometimes we you know they have to go out of their comfort zone because we there's only certain amount of slots right so once it's this first come first serve we try to match it up as good as we can.
Michael Schweisheimer (31:14.035)
So I know we're saying the program is national. You guys recently celebrated 30 years, right?
Michelle Palmer (31:19.8)
And we did, we celebrated 30 years. in 30 years, we have served over close to 1700 students and it may not seem like a lot, but we try to keep our class sizes really small, right? So for our teaching fellows, they won't have more than 12 to 15 students in each class. So 1700 over 30 years is great for us and have served over close to almost 600 teaching fellows at this point. So it's been an exciting year. We had a lot of celebrations and
you know, looking forward to what the future brings. Now we're focusing a lot more on what the future of breakthrough, we're going through a new strategic plan and what's the future going to look like for breakthrough of greater Philadelphia.
Michael Schweisheimer (32:01.214)
Did breakthrough, so that 30 years, did breakthrough start here or is this a model that you adopted from other parts of the country?
Michelle Palmer (32:08.737)
So it started here in 1995 at Summer Bridge and it was one of a college student from Germantown Friends School. She came over, sorry, she came over from California. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's okay. A college student from, she had went to school in California and came back and told the head of school that,
Michael Schweisheimer (32:25.215)
Do you need to deal with the interruption? Okay.
Michelle Palmer (32:35.511)
She absolutely loved this program, Summer Bridge, and that we needed to start one here. And so the head of school at the time, Dick Wade, listened to her and he was like, okay, let's do it. And so they started Summer Bridge in 1995 and it went from there.
Michael Schweisheimer (32:47.517)
Okay, so you were at GFS before. I was gonna say I'm like, like I
Michelle Palmer (32:49.846)
I was not there then. No, I was not there then. Yes. Yeah. I was actually still in college. I think at that point. I'm not that old, Michael.
Michael Schweisheimer (32:57.864)
Sorry, my apologies.
So the only reason I'm like, wait, what? So what? Because I did look at LinkedIn, because I tried to do a little research. And basically, I saw that it looks like your career has basically been GFS and breakthrough, right?
Michelle Palmer (33:07.411)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Michelle Palmer (33:13.461)
I have been at GFS. Yeah, I have worked at another private school in New York previously, but this is my 19th year at GFS. I've been executive director of Breakthrough for the past five years, but I've had other roles at GFS in between there. And now I'm also teach social justice in the high school here and do a couple of other things. I wear a couple of different hats at GFS, but I'm the executive director of Breakthrough.
Michael Schweisheimer (33:38.771)
that's I wasn't trying to age you I just was like, you've only got two things listed on the LinkedIn that I can see so I'm like, you weren't. All right, cool.
Michelle Palmer (33:47.807)
Yeah, this is my 19th year here. So this is my longest running time. And I mean, honestly, I didn't think I would be in education to this extent, but I love it. And it's been very rewarding for me. And especially my most rewarding part of my job has been my work with Breakthrough, helping students specifically that look like me to gain more in their academic careers. So it's been great.
Michael Schweisheimer (34:15.957)
So you mentioned that you've had about 600 teaching fellows through the program in that period of time, which by the way, 1700 students, I know it's over 30 years, but that does not feel like any level of small impact. That feels pretty significant given the challenges.
Michelle Palmer (34:31.439)
I have some people they'd be like, I have 20,000 kids we've served. like, you know, like, so 17.
Michael Schweisheimer (34:38.815)
Listen, I'm old enough to remember when the McDonald's sign would tell us how many burgers they served or whatever the heck that was. So, you know, at some point the numbers start to just feel a little meaningless. I mean, in terms of specifically intersecting with middle school kids during the summer, that seems like such a an easy time for them to have so much loss.
Michelle Palmer (34:44.069)
Me too. Me too. Yeah. Exactly.
Michelle Palmer (34:59.283)
Exactly. It's a critical time. mean, you know, there's so many statistics out here and if you're not reading by a certain level and if you're not engaged in your school, you're not going to continue on. so living in Philadelphia and seeing what's happening in the city, you know, we're trying to combat that. want students to be interested in coming to school and that's why we try to make breakthrough fun in the summer. Right. We want to make it sound like, oh my goodness, like my teachers are young. They, they, can identify with them and you know,
It's interesting to, it's okay to be cool to be in school. you know, some of them, so many kids are like, don't want to be associated with school because they think it's not cool. And I want that narrative to change. I want it to be just as cool to be in school as anything else. You know, I, when I was growing up, I went to Central just like Kenny, you know, I was, I was, I liked to read. I liked to be, you know, I had a single mom. I didn't have a program like Breakthrough. I was just in the house, you know? And so I wish that more people knew about our program.
because it's totally free. This would have something that my mom could have benefited from. And so many people, we want our kids to have opportunities. We have kids right now from Breakthrough in Atlanta on a college tour that may have never gone out of Pennsylvania. So these are the type of things that we're trying to provide for our students.
Michael Schweisheimer (36:18.229)
Kenny, you didn't find breakthrough when you were in middle school. You found it when you were in college, right?
Michelle Palmer (36:23.282)
Mm-hmm.
Kenny Chiu (36:23.502)
Yeah, but there is a teaching fellow who was a breakthrough student and then became a breakthrough teaching fellow.
Michelle Palmer (36:29.775)
Yes, yeah.
Michelle Palmer (36:33.938)
Shamar, yep.
Michael Schweisheimer (36:34.901)
That's awesome. Do do we know does Shamar actually pursue education as a field as well?
Michelle Palmer (36:41.008)
He is working in education right now. Yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (36:43.411)
Wow. Do you have a sense, Michelle, about with that 600-some-odd fellows, how many of them do end up pursuing education?
Michelle Palmer (36:52.977)
So we have an overall sense because of breakthrough nationals numbers, which is they give us about 74%. But I would love to know how many actually are from Philadelphia that are staying in the area. The problem that we have is just with some of the data that was being collected previously, we just weren't able to track it. So now we're trying to go back and.
and figure out the numbers and like get in touch with people and find out their stories and things like that. It's just going to take some time for us. Hopefully another year or so we will have that. I'm hoping we get an intern this summer that can help us out with that. But like we're trying to figure, one thing we realized when we were collecting our data is that we were collecting college addresses for email addresses and then they disappeared. And so we need to have, you know, personal email addresses. And I'm sorry, that's a long way of saying that we still have some way to go of like figuring all that out.
Michael Schweisheimer (37:34.483)
Mmm. There.
Michael Schweisheimer (37:44.755)
Well, tell you what, when we're done chatting here, I can talk to you about a friend of mine. Well, actually, I'll just talk to you about her here because she's awesome. Do you know Claire Robertson craft from impact ed over it? She's based out of Penn.
Michelle Palmer (37:56.14)
Matt Clare because I did diverse force on boards so I don't know her personally but I remember her being one of our teachers in my class one day for diverse force on boards.
Michael Schweisheimer (37:59.462)
okay.
Michael Schweisheimer (38:05.449)
Well, her and her whole team are just ultimate data geeks. So if you want to talk to someone about how to do like longitudinal studies, she's she's the person who leaps to mind because she just is nuts for data.
Michelle Palmer (38:18.305)
Nice, okay, that's good to know.
Michael Schweisheimer (38:20.147)
Yeah. Can I so for you, have you been staying? So you did your year you did your summer program and then you stayed on through a school year. Have you been staying in touch with breakthrough besides like coming and telling this story at the story slam?
Kenny Chiu (38:33.358)
Definitely. Over the past summer, they went on some exciting field trips. So I was happily invited to volunteer and spend the days with kids. As well as recently, I had to fill in for a few substitute student fellows who are sick or had other obligations. So it was really, really cool to come back periodically and just see the students grow and they
Michael Schweisheimer (38:53.532)
cool.
Kenny Chiu (39:03.162)
In some ways they've matured, but in some ways they also are like, wow, these are still the same young folks that I remember teaching. So yeah, it's really cool to still be part of this family. because of 30 year anniversary, I've also been able to come back to celebrations and gatherings and it's good to see the family. I think the team is really great there and it just makes me feel appreciated when they...
reach out to me and just to check in how I'm doing or inviting me to an alumni gathering or fundraiser, things like that.
Michael Schweisheimer (39:38.399)
That's awesome. Do you? I think we talked about the fact that you're going to be graduating soon. You're thinking about figuring out where you'll land. Do you have do you have ideas yet? And you don't have to. But do you think you might stay in the Philly area or are you open to what the world might offer?
Kenny Chiu (39:56.345)
Yeah, for the immediate future, I'm definitely committed to staying in the city, public school in the city. So right now I'm looking at different various public high schools around the city. In the future, who knows? I'd love to, I guess, take my talents elsewhere, but for the immediate future, definitely want to stay around the area and do my work here.
Michelle Palmer (40:11.083)
you
Michael Schweisheimer (40:21.3)
Do you think, there something appealing about being a product of Philadelphia and the idea of starting your career in the public schools of Philadelphia? Or is that just about staying near family? I mean, there's so many reasons that we make these choices.
Kenny Chiu (40:35.148)
Yeah, so many reasons. think family, my sister is in the military, so I'm the only sibling that's around to keep the parents company. But also, I just feel like the education system in Philly with all of its goods and bads and controversies, I feel like at least at the very core, it provided my family who immigrated here a lot of opportunity and it gave me a lot of opportunities. So I definitely want to.
In some ways, I feel like teaching is giving back and making sure those opportunities happen for other youth who come from similar situations as me. And also just staying grounded in a community that feels like home is really important to me as well. yeah, I have thought about, I don't know, California seems really nice. Also teaching abroad seems like a great opportunity.
But for now, definitely staying home.
Michael Schweisheimer (41:37.577)
Well, I'll just point out and you know that I think it's really easy to forget that when one member of a family serves the whole family serves. So I just appreciate your sister for, you know, serving in the military. But I also want to just extend some appreciation to your family for giving her that support and doing everything you have to do to back her up. So that's great.
Kenny Chiu (42:00.28)
Thank you, I'm sure she appreciates it.
Michael Schweisheimer (42:02.42)
So I think, Michelle, is there anything about the sort of breakthrough experience that you think we missed that we should have talked about?
Michelle Palmer (42:13.479)
Well, one thing I was just thinking about as far as Kenny is that we've worked hard to make sure that we built a partnership with University of Penn where anybody who decides to go into their urban education program will receive a $20,000 scholarship toward that. And then they also extended it this year for teachers who want to go in with their major teaching English as a second language.
Michael Schweisheimer (42:41.89)
wow.
Michelle Palmer (42:42.32)
We've been really excited about that partnership and, you know, want to, you know, give incentive because a lot of our teaching fellows do want to go on and get their master's degree right away. And so this is another pathway for them to help them do that. And so we've been excited about that. On the school side, I will say, you know, we, when I started with Breakthrough, we were a three year program back in 2020. So we were just servicing seventh, eighth and ninth grade. And then,
we went down and we service students during the pandemic as well. So I joined Breakthrough in 2020, February 2020, before the pandemic and then the pandemic hit in March and I'm like, my gosh, what am I gonna do? And so.
Michael Schweisheimer (43:22.364)
Yeah, that's a very different job than you signed up for. That is for sure.
Michelle Palmer (43:25.263)
Yes, exactly. Yes. so, but we pivoted and, you know, luckily we had GFS with us by our side and like we were able to have a virtual platform for students. And we had 90 students joining us in the summer every day for programming. You know, they were at home and we provided them with computers and they were able to pick them up. And it was a great thing.
From that experience on, just showed me the power of education and how it can change people's lives. And really, you hone in on interests with things with our students, I mean, we were doing virtual Hamilton plays and they were like, yeah, it was great. But I say all that to say that we've evolved and we went down then to sixth grade and then now we are servicing fifth grade. And then on the opposite end, we decided, okay, we want to not stop
Michael Schweisheimer (44:06.148)
that's fun.
Michelle Palmer (44:21.729)
knowing where our students are going after ninth grade, we want to see them all the way through college. And so we started a college bound program. So we revamped like what our programs are called. So we have our high school ready program right now, which is grades five through eight. And then we have our capstone program, which is for our rising ninth graders, because we recognize that our ninth graders, that's when they start thinking they're cool and they
don't want to, you know, thinking like, gosh, you know, they don't want to do the chants and chairs like we normally did. So we revamped their summer last summer to make it really more engaging for them. So we focused on financial literacy. We focused on community service, had them going out into the community and doing work. And we also had them doing civics work because we recognize that after the last election, they had no idea about anything. they
they could barely tell you about the branches of government. We really need our kids to understand everything that's happening. And so that was a difference for breakthrough this summer. And that was for ninth graders. We shortened the program a little bit because some of them were going to Costa Rica also for another opportunity where we have our Seeds of Change program. like what ninth graders. Yes, we have, we have been sending, this is our fourth year sending kids, five kids to Costa Rica that are rising ninth graders.
Michael Schweisheimer (45:17.328)
yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (45:31.87)
Wait, your kids were going to Costa Rica?
Michelle Palmer (45:41.988)
And they're studying science over there in the tropical rainforest. So you can't. But it's been a wonderful addition to our program. we're like, that's why I say we're trying to provide more support. We may not be expanding in numbers. Like we're still servicing like 200, about 250 kids altogether when you count in our ninth graders.
Michael Schweisheimer (45:47.044)
Kenny, you can't do it.
Kenny Chiu (45:49.93)
Super jealous.
Michael Schweisheimer (45:50.216)
You can't you can't go teach science. You're just out. Sorry, man.
Michelle Palmer (46:09.751)
But we're trying to give them more access to different programming that they would not normally get. So our ninth graders, either you're either going to Costa Rica, some of them, or they're doing this capstone program where, mean, they went down last year to the modern courts. They actually got to see a court tried and that like really shook them up. They're like, my gosh, you know, like to see something in action and to see somebody make a stupid mistake and can turn into a life sentence for them. this, yeah. And they were able to see that in person and go to the courts and see that.
Michael Schweisheimer (46:14.568)
Okay.
Michael Schweisheimer (46:33.79)
turn into rest of your life, yeah.
Michelle Palmer (46:39.584)
So that's our ninth graders. And then after that, we have our college bound program, which is for our ninth through 12th graders. And they meet on Saturdays as well, but it's not every Saturday like our school year program, but they do more specialized programming. So they're working on resume writing, creating their first resumes, doing interview talks. A lot of times our students are, know, of course we're in a digital age, but do you know how to have a conversation with other people like we're doing right now?
And then we also focused on getting them SAT support. We had two of our students who started out with lower SAT scores and they both have gone up, one has gone up to like a 1200 and others like over 1100. Like they've really gotten their scores up to open up doors of opportunity for scholarships for them. yeah, so now, so we have, yeah, we're busy. Yeah, yeah, so we are very busy.
Michael Schweisheimer (47:32.5)
So you're busy. You're a little busy.
Michelle Palmer (47:37.793)
So we have our high school ready program, which is grade five through eight, capstone, is rising ninth, and then college bound, which is nine through 12. And then we're also, I'll say one more thing, we're also trying to institute more parent programming. So we wanna make sure that we're supporting the whole family at Breakthrough, not just the student. As Kenny said in his story slam, we're a family and we wanna make sure our parents are included in that also. So we've had a variety of different programming this year.
starting off with a welcome barbecue just to get them acclimated to where their children will be this summer, to financial literacy for the parents. We've had a program for them just about the middle school mind. All of a sudden, your kids start changing and they start having all these hormones. And you're like, wait, is this the same little child I had before? Because all of a sudden, they're just a grumpy teenager. So we're trying to do more work around making sure parents feel supported, which has been huge.
Michael Schweisheimer (48:31.742)
That's very cool. And Kenny, they roped you into any of the programming where you're talking to parents? Just kidding. Not yet. Well, it's on now. It's on now. My fault.
Michelle Palmer (48:37.8)
Not yet. Not yet, Michael. Stop it, exactly.
Kenny Chiu (48:38.063)
No, not yet, but...
but I'm sure I'd do a good job of recruiting parents to send their kids here.
Michelle Palmer (48:44.832)
Yes, exactly.
Michael Schweisheimer (48:48.324)
I actually I agree with that. Kenny, there is there anything that our audience might be able to do for you? Like are you anything like anyone who might be interested? Like for one for one thing, like we do a lot of work with the committee of 70 and you're doing are you working with them at all with their civics education?
Kenny Chiu (49:09.934)
Yeah, with the recent fall election, some of my classes were able to interview a few of the judicial candidates that were on the ballot. Yeah, so Committee of 70 has helped my class set those up. It's been great having to see the students really like engage with people in office. And then in a few days, next Wednesday, Chris Rab and maybe a few more folks that are running for PAs.
Michael Schweisheimer (49:19.22)
Cool.
Kenny Chiu (49:39.192)
Third congressional district will be joining. Third, I'm a civics teacher. You can trust me. Yeah.
Michael Schweisheimer (49:40.732)
I it's a second. Is it third or second?
Michael Schweisheimer (49:46.768)
OK, well, then I'm an idiot because I thought it was second. That's great. All right. Yep. Cool. You're going to try to get multiple candidates out.
Michelle Palmer (49:47.186)
you
Kenny Chiu (49:55.215)
Yeah, Chris Rav said he would come visit our class. So it will be recorded and published and our students will be able to ask questions and then the other candidates were awaiting responses from their team.
Michael Schweisheimer (49:58.389)
Cool.
Michael Schweisheimer (50:06.728)
Yeah, they they're always they're always last minute. We'll see what I wish you luck. I hope you get get a couple more so.
Kenny Chiu (50:13.39)
Thank you.
Michelle Palmer (50:13.766)
And Michael, Committee of 70 also came out and spoke to our breakthrough parents as well to give them education about the, it was earlier last year, it's about the election and voting and so it was a good partnership.
Michael Schweisheimer (50:26.398)
they're they're really great partners. And I know they have, you know, things that are happening in a lot of different levels, including civic education for young people. But I mean, with the way civic education has been going in our region, it's really important to educate pretty much everybody because just like me not knowing the proper district for Dwight's seat. So, you know, no good call me out, man, please, I deserve. I make lots of mistakes. I'm cool with it. All right, you guys.
Michelle Palmer (50:34.747)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Palmer (50:41.988)
Exactly.
Kenny Chiu (50:51.276)
You
Michael Schweisheimer (50:56.316)
Listen, how does someone find you all if they did want to offer some resources or opportunities? So let's start with Michelle. How do we find breakthrough or yourself?
Michelle Palmer (51:07.912)
Yeah, Breakthrough, www.BreakthroughPhilly.org or you can reach me at mpalmer, M-P-A-L-M-E-R at BreakthroughPhilly.org. Thank you.
Michael Schweisheimer (51:17.406)
Great. Kenny, how about you? What's the best way to find you?
Kenny Chiu (51:21.454)
gosh.
Michael Schweisheimer (51:23.74)
Are you a social media person or do you stay off of that?
Kenny Chiu (51:27.118)
Everything's private because of my position as a teacher now. But I do have a pitch though. just feel like anyone who's just even has like an ounce of belief that they could become a teacher, I would say try breakthrough. I think a huge part of the teaching shortage and teaching issues are that we're asking people who don't, graduate without any teaching experience to make a choice on whether they want to teach or not.
Michael Schweisheimer (51:30.836)
Michelle Palmer (51:30.875)
That's right.
Michael Schweisheimer (51:33.778)
What's that?
Kenny Chiu (51:56.259)
and then the possibilities are they agree to and then they're thrown in a classroom unprepared and eventually quit or because they never tried it, they won't try upon graduation. So I think breakthrough, even if you have an ounce of belief that this is an interest or this could be a passion. Yes, three month commitment. It's super fun and either you'll learn a lot of valuable skills working with other teaching fellows and young people.
and then be able to use those skills in whatever career or you'll land in teaching. So both great possibilities and I just think it's something worth trying for any college student.
Michael Schweisheimer (52:39.198)
That's awesome. Well, if anyone has ideas for you, we'll let them reach out to Michelle and show.
Michelle Palmer (52:43.531)
That's what was going to say. I could be his manager after this company.
Michael Schweisheimer (52:45.914)
All right, last question. Do we any chance you think either of you might join us on May 12 for the next story slam? Maybe you can bring some other breakthrough teachers actually.
Michelle Palmer (52:57.243)
Check mark.
Kenny Chiu (52:57.422)
Absolutely, it was super fun listening to other stories. I was really, right, exactly. So it was an extremely fun night, even though I was really scared. So I'm assuming that when I don't have any responsibility, it'll be even more fun.
Michael Schweisheimer (53:02.713)
You don't have to tell a story again. You've done it.
Michelle Palmer (53:15.373)
What time does it start?
Michael Schweisheimer (53:16.626)
So stories start at seven, we're gonna open the doors at 5.30. So there's some hanging out and networking and then we'll, stories start at seven o'clock. We're usually done by like 9.30.
Michelle Palmer (53:20.345)
Okay, I'm gonna...
Michelle Palmer (53:26.507)
Okay, I'm going to put it on my calendar and talk to my husband and give back. Okay.
Michael Schweisheimer (53:30.478)
Nice. All right. Well, I can get you all the information. So cool. Well, listen, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to join me here today. And I do hope you join me on the 12th. And yeah, I hope this is some fun.
Michelle Palmer (53:34.509)
Okay, thank you.
Michelle Palmer (53:44.151)
This was great. It was great. Thank you so much, Michael. Good to see you always, Kenny.
Kenny Chiu (53:46.926)
Thank you. Thank you. This was fun. feel like, I mean, I'm just appreciative of you, like, not like forcing me to do stuff like this, but I feel like much a better public speaker over the years now.
Michelle Palmer (54:00.907)
Lifting, Listen, I'm always scared to get on camera. I can't stand it. But I have to do it. I get tongue-tied, you know, but it's all good. So you did amazing.
Michael Schweisheimer (54:12.627)
Well, Kenny, yeah, you are an amazing advocate for the profession, actually, not just breakthrough, but I think for the profession. So keep doing it. We definitely need more teachers. And I'm glad to know that you're going to be doing that very soon. So all right, you guys. Thank you so much. I'm going to do me a favor. Hold on one second.
Kenny Chiu (54:22.702)
Thank you.
Michelle Palmer (54:24.845)
Yes.
Kenny Chiu (54:31.95)
Thank you.
You said stay on.
Michelle Palmer (54:34.861)
Michael Edd