Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a class offered at many schools throughout the country in effort to effectively prepare secondary students for college and life beyond. AVID builds and reinforces critical skills such as writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading (WICOR).

AVID classrooms are structured around organization, with binder checks every other week and collaborative group activities where students are given the chance to ask a tutor questions they have from tests or homework.

While many classrooms don’t implement these organizational checks, AVID proves there is a method to the madness when to comes to college acceptance.

Many students have found the “extras” provided by the AVID program are beneficial, especially when they are accepted to the college of their choice. According to AVID.org, in 2016 88% of AVID seniors applied to college and 79% were accepted.

Senior Bella Smith has been involved with AVID for years, and it helped her get into college.

“AVID has given me a lot of time in class to work on my applications and opportunities to apply for scholarships,” Smith said, “It has taught me organization and how to prioritize my time, along with working hard.”

AVID prepares students for the college process and congratulates them once accepted. In the back of the AVID room is the Letter Wall, the place where college acceptance letters are hung by Ms.Gregory, the AVID teacher, for the younger students to be inspired by.

Ms. Gregory has been teaching AVID for 10 years at Cox and enjoys guiding her students on the track to college.

“I have taught AVID for 10 years and have had the privilege and luck to work with my students for four years, and we form a great team. I also like the fact that we work as a team towards the goal of being accepted to four-year colleges” Gregory said.