AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, allows students to expand their learning horizon by helping them with advanced placement classes they wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

“Our goal is to both prepare to get to college, but also prepare to be successful in college,” assistant principal Mark Preut said.

Students apply to AVID by picking up an application from program coordinator Barbara Williams in room 222.

“The biggest requirement is individual determination, which is part of the AVID acronym. We’re looking for students who are willing to take high-level, advanced AP courses, or maybe already are but are struggling to meet the requirements of them,” Williams said.

Twice a week students work together in tutorials to answer questions they had about homework from the night before. A tutor from a nearby college will come and assist in the tutorials, guiding the students and keeping them on track.

One of the things the tutors do in tutorials is help students solve problems collectively. A student writes the question on the board and demonstrates what they already know about the problem. Then other students help with the problem, adding what they already know until the problem is solved.

Another studying technique used in AVID is the Cornell note-taking strategy. The student must write questions down and as they read, and then answer the questions in class. At the bottom of the page, the student summarizes what they read. At home the student studies the notes for 10 minutes each night for the first week, four minutes the next week, then two minutes the final week to make sure the material stays with the student. This allows students to raise questions about the material they read to ensure they understand it.

“[AVID] helps you kind of get into the mood for college and get into stronger classes,” freshman Darrian Garcia said. “It puts me in higher level classes, so it kind of makes me work harder. So I need to keep up my grades.”

AVID motivates students to enroll in AP classes, challenge themselves and prepare for college.

“I believe this program helps students learn to organize, manage their time wisely,” Williams said. “It teaches them study skills and how to work in tutorial groups, how to take notes, everything that you need to actually succeed when you get to college, not just get to college, but actually graduate once you get there.”