The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective at Woodside is a class which aims to help students develop the skills needed for college and future success.
The program offers college prep courses through AVID I, II, III and IV. This helps students earn elective credits while completing the University of California “G” elective requirement, according to the Woodside High School Website. Lisa Vasquez, former AVID teacher and now college career advisor, sheds light on how the class came to be.
“AVID is an international program that began in San Diego,” Vasquez said. “A teacher wanted to support students who didn’t necessarily have the background knowledge, or parents who had gone to college.”
The class aims to help students develop skills for college, especially for kids whose families are traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
“Woodside became an AVID school in 1998, and I was able to start the program as one of the teachers there to help support students,” said Vasquez. “From there, we’ve continued to help students identify their post secondary goals and work with them to support it, whether it’s a two year or four year college.”
Freshman AVID student Amy Conway talked about what a typical AVID class would look like.
“We do a lot of different things,” Conway said. “We’ve practiced a lot of different skills, like presentations and note taking.”
AVID has a large focus on honing kids’ study skills in preparation for more difficult classes and eventually college.
“AVID is pretty well known for helping students with their note taking skills,” Vasquez said. “We’ve expanded beyond Cornell notes, so we allow students to do any type of focus, notes, annotations, concept maps that help them train themselves to understand the material.”
The class teaches skills like using a planner for organization, self advocacy skills, learning how to email professors and being able to find resources, according to Vasquez.
“We have learned a lot about colleges and have started looking at which ones we want to go to,” Conway said. “But then there’s also other days where we just have fun and bond with each other, creating bird houses and stuff.”
Along with college preparation and study skill improvement, the program provides motivational activities to foster a strong sense of community, as said by the Woodside High School Website. Due to this unconventional curriculum AVID teaches, its work and atmosphere differs from other standard classes according to Conway.
“I think it’s a lot slower paced than other classes,” Conway said. “We’re not learning study material and we don’t have to memorize anything, it’s more focused on helping prepare us for the future.”
Freshman AVID student Romina Lopez discussed her experience with AVID classes.
“We learn a lot about colleges and college experiences,” Lopez said. “Last week, we had to talk about a documentary we saw about these four teenagers that missed their opportunity to go to college because they did it too late.”
AVID classes have shown students the importance of preparing for the future early, before opportunities slip by, according to Lopez.
“What I have learned about the process of college is to not do it too late,” Lopez said. “It takes a really long time to do and it’d be better if I did it earlier, so I can take as many opportunities as I can.”
Although AVID can be a resource to help students, it is a large commitment according to Conway.
“I definitely would recommend AVID if having free elective spots isn’t an issue for someone because it does take all four years,” Conway said.
AVID is an excellent resource for students looking to learn more about the college admission process and to improve their study skills, as stated by Lopez.
“AVID is a great tool for me and my future,” said Lopez.
