Beginnings

In 1980, Mary Catherine Swanson, English department head and teacher in San Diego Unified School District, believed if students were willing to work hard, she could teach them the skills needed to be college-ready. She developed the AVID program from this philosophy. Ramona High School started its AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) program in 1988, when teacher Wanda Schneider started the program with the assistance of school board member Maxine Frost and principal Bill Vaughn (principal of Ramona from 1971-1992). We were the first site outside of San Diego County to use the program. The class started as one elective class taught by Schneider and quickly grew. Before Ramona High School started its AVID program, only three percent of the 325 graduating Ramona students went to a four-year university. Today, we have 16 sections of AVID, and ninety-nine percent of the AVID students at Ramona enroll in college and are accepted to four-year universities. Our 2025 graduates will be the 37th year of AVID traditions at Ramona.

Thousands of students have graduated from Ramona’s AVID program, going on to college and receiving millions of dollars worth of financial aid from Dell scholarships, Gates scholarships, Bridgequest scholarships, and many others. Our students have earned acceptances to schools all over the country, including the Ivy League and many other prestigious and competitive universities. 

Distinctions

We currently have one of the most successful and largest AVID programs in the country. Our AVID program is a Site of Distinction, and we have been recognized as a Demo School since 1993.

Coordinators

Wanda Schneider began the AVID program at Ramona and ran it until Sally Griffin took over. Scott Lockman was the AVID coordinator until 2021. Ann Sullivan was co-coordinator and coordinator from 2019-2023. Cassie Allen and Yolanda Elias are the current coordinators. 

Fun Facts

Our current Principal Mr. Victor Cisneros was an AVID student.

Three of our current AVID teachers were AVID students: Ms. Ayala (Ramona AVID student), and Ms. Elias (Ramona AVID student), and Ms. Hernandez (Ramona AVID student)

AVID alumnus, Brian Schulte, now runs the Poly High School AVID program. 

Our Ramona AVID students have been accepted to schools across the country, including Alaska and Hawaii, HBCU's, and prestigious schools like USC, UCLA, Berkeley, Notre Dame, West Point, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT and more!

Scholarship Winners

We are unable to list every scholarship winner, but here are some highlights! Congratulations to all of our scholarship winners throughout the years!

Our AVID students frequently win Dell Scholarships, Gates Scholarships, and Questbridge scholarships!

In 2021, two of our AVID students won the prestigious Questbridge full-ride scholarship worth over $300,000 each! This was not the first time our AVID students won this scholarship, but it was the first time two of them did in the same year.  Congratulations to Perla Alvarez, who won the Questbridge Scholarship to Claremont McKenna, and Jennifer Chavez, who won the Questbridge Scholarship to Princeton.  💙🐏 

In 2023, three AVID students won the Questbridge Scholarships. Congratulations to Eric Ulloa, who won a Questbridge Match Scholarship to Boston University, Carlos Garcia, who won a Questbridge Match Scholarship to Swarthmore College. Tiare Cabrera also got a Questbridge Scholarship to USC.

Click here for more scholarship winners.

News

June 30, 2022

Ramona Principal Victor Cisneros recently sat down with Black Voice News to explain the program's impact on Ramona students. Read the full interview here, courtesy of blackvoicenews.com

District Wide AVID