Not having someone to turn to for advice regarding college can make life difficult. Advancement Via Individual Determination, otherwise known as AVID is a program that sets students up for success in their futures and provides them with guidance about issues pertaining to college.

Senior Kascell Wright has been in AVID for 6 years. As AVID Seniors, they are now focusing on applying for college. He explained that AVID “helps you prepare and build skills for college that can be used in college, it’s basically just college stuff.”

Logan Xiong, who is also a Senior, explains how he got into AVID, “I was invited and interviewed in 7th grade. They [the interviewers] asked questions pertaining to plans after high school and asked why I wanted to be in AVID.” Most of the questions gravitated towards school and personal goals.

Additional things that AVID students do are Learning Logs, which are summaries of what the students have learned throughout the week. Tutorial Request Forms, also referred to as TRF’s, are forums that the students fill out so that they can collaborate with others to come to a common point of understanding. They also go on field trips to tour college campuses.

If interested in joining AVID, there are a couple of things you should consider prior to doing so, such as the flexibility in your schedule. Another Senior student, Mellanie Heng said, “It was hard to make sure I got all the classes needed to graduate because of AVID taking up space. I wasn’t able to do much exploring with the electives.”

Some tips that these three students recommend to upcoming AVID students are to never fall behind on Learning Logs and TRF’s and to start looking into colleges in your junior year because you might change your mind many times. Lastly, stay in AVID. This class is really beneficial for Juniors and Seniors and it will give you life skills that you can use when you get a job or go to college.

Because of these reasons, AVID is highly recommended. It provides tips for applying to college and social, organizational, communication, and leadership skills. It also gives you a head start for your future, something that other students won’t get until later.