Four T.C. Williams High School AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) students have been chosen to be AVID student leaders at the annual AVID Summer Institute being held in Philadelphia, Pa. this week.
The students are representing T.C. Williams by training other teachers and faculty about the AVID system and practices that benefit all students. This is the first time that students from ACPS have been chosen to participate in the student group. The Summer Institute is a professional learning event for members of AVID to network, collaborate and collect information to ensure student success in all academic content areas.
The AVID program ensures that all students have the tools they need to succeed beyond high school.
- One-hundred percent of this year’s AVID graduates from ACPS (51 students) were accepted to college and among them, received $3.1 million in scholarship funds. Seventy-five percent of these students have been part of AVID for five years or more.
- One student is a STEM Presidential Scholar and will attend Virginia State with full tuition paid
- One student received a full scholarship to Cornell University with acceptance into the engineering program
- Two students received full scholarships to attend Georgetown University
- More than 30 percent of the class received a scholarship
- The top six schools that this year’s graduate will attend are: Northern Virginia Community College, George Mason University, James Madison University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University
Junior Kadyn Washington and sophomores Jackeline Ibarra, Blossom Graham and Naiya Montgomery joined twenty student leaders from the Mid-Atlantic Southern State Regional Group. During the Institute, the students will participate in various panel discussions, share their first-hand AVID experiences and collaborate with education faculty and staff about how AVID strategies can be used in the classrooms.
Our students are extremely excited about this opportunity to participate in the Summer Institute.
I am grateful for this opportunity through the AVID system. I am most excited to help current and future AVID teachers, no matter the grade level. Also, I am excited just to see Philadelphia! This trip will just be fun on top of fun,” says Kadyn Washington.
Jackie Ibarra sees it as a chance to express her opinion on AVID and how it has impacted her learning experience during her most recent years as a high school student.
In addition, ACPS AVID District Director and local AVID Consultant, Jodie Peters, has been chosen as an AVID National Staff Developer for the summer institutes. She will learn alongside three hundred trainers selected from across the U.S. and will train educators at the Orlando and Denver summer institutes this year.
The AVID program exemplifies ACPS 2020 Goal 1 – Academic Excellence and Educational Equity: Every student will be academically successful and prepared for life, work, and college.