AVID Spotlight on James Jones

(AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. You can find out more from a prior post:

9/29/06

There, you will also find a link to the national AVID effort.

This is the first of a few AVID student "spotlights" that will run in the blog. The following is a summary by James regarding his experience with AVID.)

The AVID program is valuable and vital to any student that would like to pursue enrollment in a four year college. AVID has taught me crucial skills and habits that I will undoubtedly carry with me throughout high school and beyond, from its freakishly huge binders, to the Cornell notes that we take in AVID.

Before I entered AVID my biggest issue in school was organization. I wrote math notes in my Spanish notebook, I had papers folded in my books, and even though I would do my homework, I had a tendency to lose it in the wild forest of my papers that was my book bag. But rescuing me from my bad habits like a cat stuck in a tree came AVID. The first idea that the AVID program worked on was organization. We received thick binders that were designed to hold all of our papers, to help us keep track of our things. We also learned that to save valuable room and to have easier access to our notes, we used loose leaf paper instead of notebooks. Organization was the first step to becoming a college bound student.

Another lesson AVID taught that was extremely valuable to me was learning how to manage your time and put your priorities first. I specifically remember one exercise that AVID did when we had a sheet of paper, and we had to show our daily routine and how many hours a day we spent doing certain things. After seeing that paper it made me realize how much time I was spending doing nonsense instead of spending that time doing something useful, like studying for a quiz that I knew I would have to take, or looking over the notes of a subject that I was having trouble in. After my first year of AVID I believe that I have gotten better in this area, but progress is a slow process.

I believe that if you are determined, want to become a better student, and want to go to a four year college then the AVID program is for you. It is hard for me to explain in words how much it has done for me; it can help any determined and motivated student.