By Priscilla A. Greear - Florida Catholic
MIAMI | To better reflect South Florida’s diversity, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School has partnered with Breakthrough Miami to reach high achieving students who might not otherwise have heard of the storied Catholic institution originally founded in 1854 in Cuba.
The all-male school identified the need to proactively increase both the racial and socioeconomic diversity of its 1,459-student body; currently about a quarter of students receive financial aid and about 94 percent are Hispanic representing 17 countries. The initiative fits with the Jesuit missionary, educational and spiritual tradition to reach deeply into the local population and educate as many youths as possible.
“There probably exists this idea out there that Belen is primarily Hispanic so if you’re not Hispanic why would you go there and these are all things that we’d like to change,” said the school’s president, Jesuit Father Guillermo Garcia-Tuñón. “With a Jesuit education we have access to this pearl of great price and now we want to be able to offer it to as many people as possible.”
Belen formed the partnership with Breakthrough last August as part of a larger strategic plan, which also includes reducing class sizes to deepen brotherhood. The Breakthrough students will enter Belen this fall.
“I had the opportunity to come in as president two years ago and look at our makeup. We wanted to make sure that it reflected a little bit better the reality of Miami,” saidFather Garcia-Tuñón, a former Belen teacher and fourth generation alumnus. “Diversity is not only racial diversity but also a socioeconomic diversity. One of the beauties of Belen is that you can be sitting in the classroom with the son of a wealthy businessman next to the son from a family that struggles. And that is the reality of our city and we wanted to have that opportunity to reflect that.”
Breakthrough partners with several private schools, from Miami Country Day in northern Miami-Dade County to Palmer Trinity in the south. Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove is the only other Catholic partner, and has been a host site since 2010 — the only single gender Breakthrough program nationwide.
Father Garcia-Tuñón said that Breakthrough has had incredible success in all the places they’ve worked.
“They do a great job in being able to identify those kids who would probably succeed at Belen,” he said. “It made all the sense in the world to establish a relationship with an organization that is moving in the same direction that we’d like to move.”
OBSTACLES
Founded in 1991, Breakthrough works with high achieving students facing at least two of five potential obstacles: being under-resourced, a person of color, the first generation to attend college, from a single parent household, and speaking English as a second language. The over 1,300 participating youths hail from across Miami-Dade County and are primarily Hispanic or African-American, with 90 percent qualifying for reduced or free lunch.
The competitive, free program prepares them to attend top colleges and universities. Starting the summer after fourth grade, selected students attend a six-week summer camp and twice monthly Saturday programs during the school year at the nearest host school site, with middle school content focused on academic enrichment and high school focused on college and career readiness.
The nonprofit explains the educational landscape of options and helps families to navigate schools’ admissions and financial aid application processes. But only about five to seven percent of Breakthrough students attend private schools, with most attending magnets or charters.
While Belen is not a host site, Breakthrough is excited to have another school partner in west Miami, said managing program director Lauren Kellner Rudolph. “Partnering with as many schools as we can gives us the ability to serve more students,” she said, and help them find the school that’s the best fit for them.
She added that “the traditional demographics of students that attend [Belen] are not the traditional demographics of Breakthrough so it’s exposing them to a new population in Miami.”
About seven years ago Father Garcia-Tuñón said the school had a very positive experience with a similar diversity initiative before funding dried up.
“We are giving them an opportunity to experience a Jesuit Catholic education. It’s a proven product not only because Belen has been doing it for the past 160 years but also because for the last 500 years the Jesuits have been doing it. So it’s going to help us as a community, enrich our school community,” said Father Garcia-Tuñón.
And with high academic standards, “the expectations for every student are the same at all levels,” he added.
FIVE ACCEPTED
Belen admissions director Lucila Marazita-Espinosa said that Breakthrough Miami identified eight youths who were most likely to be successful. Eight applied with five accepted for the coming school year, including four African-Americans and one of Filipino background.
The Breakthrough students went through the same rigorous admissions process as everyone else, where 185 were accepted out of over 320 applicants for the class of 2025. And while not all are Catholic, “these are very intelligent, very capable young men who we feel will be very successful in our school and we’re giving them that opportunity,” said Marazita-Espinosa.
At 96 percent Catholic, Belen embraces — and doesn’t downplay — its Catholic identity but invites all applicants who are open to a Jesuit education, said Father Garcia-Tuñón.
“The perspective we have at the school is forming these young men to be authentic servant leaders who are willing to really make that impact and change in our local community and community abroad,” he said. “I think now more than ever we need to have schools like our Catholic schools that are able to educate with these very clear, identifiable values which are the values of the Church, values of the Gospel.”
Breakthrough at Carrollton: ‘Tremendous gifts’
MIAMI | Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove became a host site in 2010 and since then has accepted about 10 girls through the program who “have contributed tremendous gifts to our student body and community at large,” said Ebony Rhodes, Carrollton’s director of community partners.
At the independent PreK3-12 Catholic school, sponsored by the Society of the Sacred Heart, about 30 percent of students receive financial aid and 88 percent are Catholic, but the school doesn’t have a demographic breakdown of Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians and other groups, said Rhodes.
“It is important for us to engage in meaningful reciprocal relationships with ministries that serve the under-resourced in our community. It is built into the fabric of our Sacred Heart goals and Catholic values to proudly support the students of Breakthrough,” said Rhodes. “We also host two full time directors on our campus who interact with our faculty and students on a regular basis to provide opportunities for our communities to learn and grown from each other. We consider Breakthrough an essential partner as we continue to deepen our diversity and inclusion efforts in campus.”
Priscilla Greear
