Exploring the CSUN, UCR, CSULA, and CSULB campuses, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) seniors searched for landmarks as part of a self-guided tour and scavenger hunt last year at the end of their junior year.
Jose Lucero, the freshman and senior AVID teacher, said that the college campus visits allow students to explore new possibilities.
“The goal is always to open their eyes to something that they didn’t consider before,” Lucero said. “For many kids, the field trips are their first time setting foot on a college campus, so it’s like a brand new world. Every school has a vibe, a tone, a feel, and I think kids benefit from visiting public schools, private schools, big campuses, and small campuses, in order to get a taste of what they like the best.”
For AVID president Sofia Ulybina (12), the field trips helped her learn about colleges she hadn’t considered before and were the reason she applied to UCLA.
“We went to a lot of CSUs and UCs in the L.A. region,” Ulybina said. “I applied to some of the schools just because we visited them, and I was really able to get a feel for the campus. UCLA wasn’t a school I was considering before, but after doing some research and scavenger hunts while we were on the field trips, I was more interested in the school, and ended up applying.”
During the college visits, students were given a list of the campus’s landmarks and were instructed to find them. In addition to their self-guided scavenger hunts, students were given the opportunity to get an inside look at the school’s facilities.
“It exposed me to schools I wouldn’t have thought about looking into on my own and I got to know a lot more about the daily college routine by walking around,” Ulybina said. “We got to go to a lecture hall, talked to a couple students and faculty members, and went inside sporting and facilities.
Alongside field trips and college visits, students participate in guided class work, projects, and presentations that push them to learn more about colleges and plan for their futures. AVID is offered as a class that runs from 7th grade to 12th grade and is separated by grade level. Ulybina has been in the program since middle school.
“I’ve been in AVID since seventh grade, and I wanted to continue learning more about college in high school,” Ulybina said. “I was one of the only three people from my middle school that was continuing with it.”
Lucero said that the goal of AVID is to help students start narrowing down their plans and better understand what they want to do in the future.
“We go from exploring an interest to exploring careers that match that interest to exploring majors that support those careers, and then ultimately exploring schools that offer those majors,” Lucero said.
He said that the program helps students learn more about their sparked interests and gives them a support system that is not limited to schoolwork.
“The purpose of AVID is to help kids academically and socially, throughout their academic careers, in hopes of helping them earn a spot at a four-year university,” Lucero said. “Some kids join AVID for academic support, some join it for college knowledge and information, and then others join it to have a place to belong.”
Students in AVID also get the opportunity to prepare for college applications and future jobs by researching their interests and staging mock interviews.
“We do practice interviews to prepare for jobs or college interviews and plan for the future,” Ulybina said. “We also present slideshows where we either research a school, career, or major and share our own knowledge and what we want to do [in the future] with our peers. [During our] senior year, we focus a lot on college apps, so we get mentoring and one-on-one help for our essays.”
Ulybina said that the projects, interviews, and mentoring in AVID throughout high school have helped her meet new people and keep her motivated.
“It’s really cool because it’s not like any other class I’ve experienced before,” Ulybina said. “I came from a different middle school, so I really got to know new people in AVID. Doing all of our presentations, I got to know each person, what their top schools were, what they wanted to major in, and their career choices. It just really motivated me to do my own research and share what I’m passionate about.”
AVID students also have the opportunity to be nominated for AVID-specific scholarships. Lucero said that he helps students find resources and plan what scholarships they want to apply for, making the process smoother.
“The AVID center coordinates with the San Diego Foundation,” Lucero said. “There are hundreds of scholarships that they offer for AVID kids. The big one is the AVID Senior Standout, and then every school can nominate two AVID STEM scholars. In addition, I have been compiling a list of scholarships, using our resources. They design a scholarship plan, so that when they come to me, senior year, they have a good idea what scholarships they’re going to apply to.”
Ulybina was nominated as Westview’s AVID Scholar and will apply alongside other AVID scholars across San Diego for a $50,000 scholarship. She said that being in AVID helped keep her organized and gave her the tools she needed to find and apply for scholarships.
“We would have scholarship assignments where we were required to apply to or submit a certain number of scholarships, and that kept me accountable,” Ulybina said. “Outside of class, I struggled with finding resources and how to find the scholarships.”
She said that AVID supported her and allowed her to chase her goals.
“I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in pursuing higher education because I know that, for me, it kept me accountable,” Ulybina said. “It was a class that I would go to every day and kept the same goal for me alive. Everything I’m doing is to get a better future for myself, and sometimes I need that extra guidance because doing the research by myself is really hard, but AVID gave me those resources.”
Lucero said that he enjoys seeing his AVID students grow over the course of their high school careers and complete the goals that they create with him in their freshman year.
“ I love that kids get to build a community, a support system,” Lucero said. “I’m so lucky because I get to see the kids as freshmen, and then I get them again [in] their senior year. I get to see the growth and the change in their mindsets. It’s amazing to see them accomplish their goals.”
