Over the course of their high school career, students in the AVID program gain various life skills, receive tutoring and prepare for college. Due to the length of the multi-year program, students and staff have noticed visible changes in students’ performance and abilities.
Various factors influence the reasons people choose to join AVID. AVID and PE teacher at Cabrillo Middle School, Allison Mine shared that students are encouraged to join because of their interest in having a college education.
“Students want to go to four-year universities, but they just don’t know what it may take. That kind of interest of, ‘I want to go to college, but how do I do it?’ I think that also kind of gives them that little incentive,” Mine said.
Along with seeking support about his educational career, eighth grade CMS AVID student Eli Romero said his family played an important role in his decision to join.
“What influenced me was my brother. He’s a heavy advocate for me because he was in AVID in eighth grade when he was at Cabrillo, and later, he went to Santa Clara. He’s a senior now and still doing AVID,” Romero said.
Through AVID, students are provided with access to college readiness resources, helping them navigate college admissions. AVID teacher Susana Hernandez shared that she works with many who will be first-generation college students.
“A lot of them don’t have anyone in their family, so they want to be the first in their family to attend a four-year university, and so they want to have that extra support that they wouldn’t otherwise get,” Hernandez said.
In their first year of AVID, eighth grade students work on building skills that will help them in high school. Mine emphasized the acronym WICOR – writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading – which helps break down the different skills.
“On Wednesdays, we do college day, so they learn about a new college. On Thursdays, we do their Tutorial Request Forms, where they have to fill out a problem that they’re having difficulty in a class, and then they get into tutorial groups,” Mine said. “Monday and Tuesday is kind of just working on the AVID curriculum, whether it be Cornell notes or reading a topic. Every day is a little different.”
When entering high school, senior Olivia Flores was unsure about her future plans. She has noticed that AVID has helped her find an interest for what she wants to pursue and helped her through the college application process.
“In the beginning of my high school journey, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, in terms of my future. I was hoping AVID would help me with that,” Flores said. “It (also) made my college admissions so easy. I got to work on my college stuff in class as opposed to at home, so I never felt alone. Our whole class was doing it together, and I could always go to my teachers.”
Although Flores looked to create a plan for her future, Romero is eager to develop the skills needed for everyday life.
“I want to work on that (communication) a lot and with the people around me because I’m entering high school, and I might meet a lot of new people that I don’t know. I want to get to know them, talk to them,” Romero said.
Even after high school, some AVID students maintain connections with the program to help in other ways. Hernandez mentioned that alumni come back to share their college experience.
“Every year we’ve had AVID alumni come back to our school and talk to students because they’ve been through the program,” Hernandez said. “They can speak firsthand about what their experience was, and they share experiences with the students and what they’re doing with her life now that they’re in college or college graduates.”
While the program provided Flores with the foundation to practice multiple skills, she feels AVID mostly helped her change her mindset to be more positive and forward looking.
“It (her mindset) really shifted from thinking, ‘This is so tiring, and I don’t really want to do this,’ to kind of, ‘I have to do this, and this (AVID) is gonna make this so much more successful in my future,’” Flores said.