When we first met Jared we knew he was a bit lost. On paper the 12-year-old boy did not stand apart from his classmates at Breakthrough New York: he had good grades, strong teacher recommendations, and came from a low-income family in the South Bronx that prized education and achievement over all else. But as he arrived for his first day of our rigorous 5-week summer program, his emotions splattered out into the hallways, classrooms and cafeteria like an abstract painting.
