Breakthrough Public Schools has supported students in Cleveland from their first day in kindergarten to their first career and beyond for the past 14 years, all while being free and open to the public. If the school system sounds familiar, it may be because several of their alumni have or are currently attending Cleveland State University.

Breakthrough provides a quality education to the youth of Cleveland without cost. Currently, its system serves 3,000 children at five K-8 grade school campuses throughout Cleveland.

The support organization for Breakthrough is Friends of Breakthrough. One of the latter's proudest accomplishments is the establishment of Beyond Breakthrough, the “one-stop-shop” alumni support center for students looking for high school enrollment, college guidance and application help, and career support. 

“If a student chooses to engage with Beyond, we can have a significant impact,” said Susan Ertle, Friends of Breakthrough President.

The Senior Director of Postsecondary Success at Beyond Breakthrough is Jillian Keller. She works closely with Ertle and the alumni team to continue the Breakthrough experience at CSU.

Beyond Breakthrough supports alumni in a number of ways, Ertle and Keller said. These include paying off tuition gaps, purchasing items needed for a dorm room, connecting with internships, assistance with navigating study abroad and helping students through financial aid and grade petitions. 

Breakthrough alumni have direct access to the Beyond Breakthrough team and are able to contact team members at any time, for any help that is needed. 

“In working with college students, our staff has found that 9:45 pm seems to be a very popular time for alumni to reach out and want to talk about their life!” Ertle laughed. 

The Beyond staff specializes in a “to-and-through” mentality, as many alumni are first generation college students. From the first steps in applying to colleges, working through FAFSA, and purchasing books and supplies, to supporting students through their college education and walking across the graduation stage, the Beyond team walks side by side with the students the whole way. 

“Beyond goes beyond academics to address non-academic issues that are impacting a students' ability to succeed,” Ertle said.

Keller has an advising office at CSU to make sure the Breakthrough alumni who are now CSU students have a helping hand to guide them, even in person. 

“Beyond Breakthroughs strong partnership with CSU allows us to work very closely with students, faculty and staff,” Ertle said. “We are able to assist students through processes and procedures, help them learn to advocate for themselves, and provide individualized, frequent support.”

With 101 bachelor degrees earned by Breakthrough alumni, the student body at Breakthrough has constant inspiration of what each future can look like. Cleveland State provides a close-to-home option with excellent education for Breakthrough alumni to continue the strong knowledge and opportunities gained from their alma mater. 

“Cleveland State is our strongest higher education partner and is incredibly supportive of Breakthrough's efforts,” Ertle said. “Beyond staff doesn't replace academic advisors or All-in-One staff - if fact we encourage our alumni to meet with staff in these areas all the time! We are an additional layer of student support with the benefit of being able to offer more time and resources to each student because our "caseload" is smaller.”

Currently, Keller is working with 39 Breakthrough alumni at CSU, and hopefully, many more in the future.