Average students shine with help from AVID program
AVID — Advancement Via Individual Determination — is part supercharged study hall, part motivational seminar and part time-management training. It motivates kids in the academic middle to aim for college.
It's hard to imagine that Bruna Afonso was once apathetic about her studies, unsure if she'd finish high school, much less go on to college.
She now earns good grades, takes tough courses and almost always speaks up in class, as she did recently during a spirited debate over the United States' role in Bosnia.
A few years ago, she disliked school and didn't try to do well.
Now? "I'm busting my butt," she said.
She credits her transformation to a program with a mouthful of a name: Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID.
Part supercharged study hall, part motivational seminar and part time-management training, AVID plucks students such as Afonso — with C or low-B averages — and turns them into college material.
Outside of AVID, average students often aren't encouraged to take challenging classes, especially if they're students not putting out a lot of effort.
Seniority cuts state's newer teachers first
It's just after 2:05 p.m., and the halls at Tacoma's Mount Tahoma High School are emptying fast as students rush for freedom.
