The Disappearance of AVID?

Students and staff share their experiences with the program

Written by editor Kristine Baldoza

AVID: Advancement Via Individual Determination. Why was it stripped away so suddenly from our students? AVID had been an ongoing class beginning from middle school in 8th grade. The purpose of the class was to prepare students for college eligibility and success. Students would engage in activities like character building such as personality types and love languages. In addition to that, students would exercise their college readiness skills through tutorials and note taking.

When asking former junior AVID students about their opinion on the disappearance of the program, their responses revealed a universal disappointment of losing a class that was once so dear to them. However, Timberline's Assistant Principal, Kristy Grinnell said that a lack of students meant AVID would be canceled.

Esperanza Tepale, a senior this year at Timberline High School, exclaims her dismay about the discontinued class that she took for nearly five years, “I spent four years in the class and I was meant to have it for five. I was disappointed because it was just out of the blue.” She elaborates on her disappointment saying, “We didn’t have a timeframe to where I could switch out if I needed to take certain classes.”

From a similar perspective, Celestine Allsup, another senior this year at Timberline High School, agrees with Tepale and expresses that the class being cut felt as if the family they created over the years was gone, “It was like our own little group you know, family. We all have known each other for a long time. When I heard it got taken away, it was something sad for me because I just wanted to finish it out.” Majority of the junior AVID class knew each other since the very beginning in 8th grade. The experiences they lived through together, whether it be field trips, “Family Fridays”, or just class time, were the strings that connected them together. As Tepale says, “People were rooting for each other's success.”

When the students were questioned about what they expected to gain from their last year in AVID, Tepale says, “I was expecting that we would be working on our essays and how to really get into depth of how we should actually write them and what colleges we would be looking for.” She continues on, “And if we didn't want to go to college, then what trade schools offered and how to apply to them. Just step by step ways of how to go with what we need to do in the future.” Allsup agreed with Tepale’s statement saying, “I was hoping we’d get into more individual things obviously, like essays and just finding your path and what you want to do after high school, because it's coming up pretty soon for us.” These students lost their chance of going through the most anticipating topic that they’ve been waiting for since middle school: college essays and applications. 

Students in AVID had a lot to lose. One of those things being with each other. Tepale says, “I felt like because we always saw each other every single day for four years straight, that we all just got to get to know each other.” She goes on to say, “Even if we didn't specifically talk to one another, we would be able to have that bond where we can just randomly be like, ‘Hey, it's me from AVID, do you want to hang out?’”

It wasn’t just the students who were affected by this decision. Teachers who had taught and who are still teaching AVID within their school are bummed out to hear about the cut. 

Dayna Sivankeo, an AVID and English teacher at Komachin Middle School, had once taught the former junior AVID students in Timberline. To the students, Sivankeo raised them to prepare for AVID. With her experience of teaching the class, she says, “It’s my 9th year that I’m doing it, and I have seen so much growth in my students.” She goes on to explain that, “The skills that they have learned helped them become college ready, and has definitely been valuable. I have seen kids be successful in college because of what they have learned in AVID. So I was disappointed to hear that Timberline was no longer offering it.”

Her students have worked hard throughout their years in AVID, building up to the final year where the focus was all about college. Sivankeo says, “I wish that there would have been a way to honor that for them this year.”

Similar to what Tepale and Allsup were expecting out of AVID, Sivankeo states, “From what I understand, senior year in AVID is one of the most important years because that’s when you guys are applying to colleges, applying for scholarships, and doing all the financial aid paperwork.” She then added, “It’s important to have that guidance and the whole point is to help students who may need that extra support in getting that guidance.” To add on, she mentions, “I feel like it’s just kind of the time of year when you even want to celebrate when you get accepted into college and when you get those scholarships. Being able to support and celebrate with the people who you have been (with) in this class since you were in 8th grade, that would’ve been so meaningful to them.”

Another longtime teacher of AVID, Jenna Tate, an English teacher at Timberline High School had more insight on why the program was cut. “There's no money behind the program. So, schools up until last year had to find the funding within the school to pay for the program.” She explained that, ”an English teacher teaching AVID uses regular school funding to take one period out of English. But then the other English classes would be overloaded because there's no money to pay for that extra period," she said.

Explaining the Core 24 system Tate also elaborates on how AVID was only an elective, making it harder for students to complete all the graduation requirements without giving up another thing they love or are passionate about. 

“It's an amazing program for kids. And it's a great relationship and great support system,” Tate said, “I still have some of my past AVID students who have graduated now and some who are graduating who still contact me and keep in touch and it's just it really can be a family situation when it's done correctly.”

AVID has greatly impacted the lives of our students. From developing new connections and creating a special bond between students to accumulating life skills that will eventually assist them in the future, these students have lost a great program that helped them grow into the people they are today. Allsup said that AVID may have been lost, but the impact that it left on its students will always be engraved in their hearts, "I just miss our group," she added.