Over the summer, four students from Hereford’s AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program were selected to go to the AVID Summer Institute, for the first time. The institute moves from city to city across the country for their three day program.
Students are selected based on their application, a video, and talk about their AVID experience.
This is the first time Baltimore, MD was selected as a host city for the institute. Only students from three schools in the Maryland and Virginia areas were selected for the institute, which shows what an honor it is to be selected.
“Summer Institute is prestigious because educators from across the country attend this professional development,” AVID teacher Mrs. Laura Blama said.
Mary Cathrine Swanson founded AVID in 1980 at Clairemont High school. She started the program in response to San Diego Unified School District’s court-ordered integration of the city’s schools.
Since then the AVID program has grown across the country to thousands of schools. The program is helpful to students whether it’s college prep or help with a harder class.
“For me, it’s setting me up and preparing me for college and also giving me the skills to get there, like study skills, collaboration, and public speaking,” Grace Berquist (‘26) said.
“For me, it’s setting me up and preparing me for college and also giving me the skills to get there, like study skills, collaboration, and public speaking” — Grace Berquist ('26)
The Summer Institute is more for the teachers than it is the students. Teachers come from all over the country to talk to AVID students to see how they can become better teachers and what they can do to make students’ lives easier.
At the institute students were put into groups with teachers and told them what they liked about AVID, what they didn’t like, things they wanted to see in the program, and how it is helpful to them. The CEO of AVID, Thuan Nguyen, gave a speech and students got to talk with him to give their opinions on the program.
“We talked with teachers and told them how to be a good AVID teacher and how to support the kids that are in AVID,” Rachel Holbrook (‘26) said.
All teachers are welcome to the institute to learn from students and to become more educated on AVID and how it impacts students.
