“I wanted to be a veterinarian for a really, really, really long time," Maggie explained on the quad of her college campus. As a 2023 high school graduate, she had every intention of pursuing that career. However, everything changed when she taught ninth-grade science at Breakthrough Cincinnati.

Two compelling factors drove Maggie to sign up as a Teaching Fellow. First, she could share her love of science while also expanding her horizons. The second reason was more personal. Coming from a family that fostered and adopted children, she witnessed firsthand how her mixed-race sister had experienced several hardships at her school, ultimately leading her to switch schools. Maggie, passionate about working with kids, wanted to be part of a culture that empowered and made children from marginalized backgrounds feel safe.

 On the first day of teaching, Maggie recalled feeling excited but nervous. "Mostly because these were ninth graders, and I was only 18 at the time. They were only a little bit younger than me, and I didn't know how that was really going to play out." To her delight, things were fantastic and only improved as the summer progressed. “[Breakthrough] gave me a wonderful summer. I've become a lot more confident. I'm also a lot more understanding of other people's issues. The kids were great. I think it really influenced me and the kind of personality I have now. It was my favorite job I've ever done.”

 Maggie’s transformative experience teaching science at BTC led her to an unexpected decision—to change her veterinarian track to the education profession. "I called my mom the second week and said, ‘Mom, I want to teach.’ She responded, ‘Are you serious? You wanted to be a veterinarian for like 18 years.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but I want to teach now.’" When asked how she planned to go about that switch, Maggie replied, “I'm gonna come back to Breakthrough.”