Large group of AVID seniors headed to four-year universities
BY MATTHEW FOX 6-13-06
Students in the AVID program didn’t have much in the way of college aspiration prior to entering the program. Now, out of 20 seniors leaving the program after Thursday’s graduation, six are continuing in community college and 14 are headed to four-year universities.
Many of them, will be the first in their family to go through college.
“I’m the first person in my family to be going to college, so I think my parents are very proud of me,” said Jessica Diaz, who’s headed to Fresno State. “I’m very lucky to be going there.”
“I’ve worked my whole life to go to college,” said Leo Ontiveros, who’s headed to San Jose State. “That’s all my parent’s have asked of me, so it’s pretty big.”
AVID is a program that’s designed to take students from the middle who might not otherwise excel and use the program’s rigorous content to help them become high achievers. Typical AVID students come from groups that are under-served and under-represented in colleges, socioeconomically at a disadvantage, the first college attendee of a family or are underachieving.
While that might have been true three, four or five years ago, this group of PRHS senior AVID students used the skills learned in the program to excel.
“This is the highest four-year university percentage that we’ve had,” said Anne Spohnhauer, who teaches the AVID seniors at PRHS. “It shows that the AVID program is working, identifying the students early on. Many of these students have been in AVID since seventh or eighth grade.”
Students in the AVID program are taught the WICR method—writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading—for all subjects, they hone skills through the Socratic seminar method, Cornell note taking, tutorials and lessons in time management and accountability.
“They taught me a lot of essay techniques for English classes and I had an AVID teacher that was also a math teacher, so he helped me when I was struggling with geometry and algebra II,” said Luis Campoverde, who’s headed to UCSB.
Often the AVID students are given the extra nudge they need to get into the courses needed to excel in post secondary education.
“Instead of having them stay in the college prep classes, we push them and we tell them they’re all going to a four-year university,” Spohnhauer said. “And these kids have believed it and pursued it with individual determination.”
Many of the AVID graduates credit the program with helping them feel comfortable and prepared when it came time to apply for college.
“I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for AVID,” said Cody Hackett, who’s headed to Regis University. “My parents didn’t go to college, so they don’t really know the process. Mrs. Spohnhauer pushed me into better classes that really expanded my mind. This class really helped me through the process.”
For the AVID seniors on the cusp of a brand new experience, the skills they’ve received in the AVID program and PRHS has made all the difference.
“When I found out [I was excepted], it made me so happy because I know I’m one step closer to achieving my dream of becoming a nurse,” said Laura Baltazar, who’s headed to Fresno State. “If it wasn’t for AVID, I probably wouldn’t have gone to college. They prepared us really well for the application process.”
“I’m excited to meet new people and live on my own,” Diaz said. “I’m really excited about becoming a teacher. AVID has helped me so much with the application process and with filing scholarships.”
Hackett, an avid ice hockey player, is excited to have the chance to hone his skills at the collegiate level in addition to the other doors a college education will provide.
“I’m going to be playing at Regis,” Hackett said. “[Regis] is really hardcore into academics. It really showed me that there’s stuff beyond hockey that I can do. If I can get into Regis, there’s other things I can accomplish.”
Spohnhauer has enjoyed bonding with this exceptional group as well.
“This group is extremely intelligent,” Sponhauer said. “They have the highest SAT scores we’ve had in the past and some of the highest GPAs. We’ve had a valedictorian before, but this year we’ve got a number of kids up about 3.7 and 3.8.”
The exceptional skill of this group of AVID students was evident during the scholarship and awards night on June 7 as well, where AVID seniors took in $44,825 in local scholarship money. Additionally, Diaz has received the $20,000 Dell Scholarship while Hackett received a $32,000 award spread over four years at Regis University.
More than anything, what’s satisfying for Spohnhauer is seeing these kids achieve their dreams and, in some cases, dreams they didn’t even know they had when they first joined AVID.
“These are kids whose families have not gone to college and who don’t know the ropes of how to get to college,” Spohnhauer said. “The satisfaction is that this year I’ve had a number of kids who’ve been through the program and have been out at least four years that have invited me to five different [college] graduations.”
Spohnhauer hopes that in a couple years she’ll be able to attend graduations for members of the class of 2006 as well. PRHS graduation will be Thursday, June 15 at War Memorial Stadium at Flamson Middle School.