AVIDworld

This is where we celebrate the world of AVID - the places, the people and the passion. From deep in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to Gaston County, North Carolina; from Adams County, Colorado to Melbourne, Florida; from tiny Crescent City in Northern California to AVID’s birthplace in San Diego; from Yokota, Japan to Ankara, Turkey… and just about everywhere in between.

Here at our AVIDworld home we will honor your success. We will share and learn. And we will feel connected to this great, extended family that is AVID. We will routinely provide you with web links and downloadable documents that should be of interest and use. And, if you're looking to see what's been happening in the AVIDworld previously, please click in and explore the archived homepages of AVIDworld to the left at In This Section.

Quick links to the stories below:

Volunteer of the Year
Encounter College
Visiting King Tut
Facing GIANTS
A Moving Story
College Road Trip
Iron Inspiration
College Tours
Torch Scholars Program
AVID College Fair

Tenold Named Volunteer of the Year

Zachary Tenold, a 13-year-old from West Fargo, was named 2009 Outstanding Young Adult Volunteer at the 32nd Annual Convention of the North Dakota Long Term Care Association in Bismarck. Tenold, a seventh-grade AVID student at Cheney Middle School, volunteers at Bethany Retirement Living in Fargo.

Tenold serves the residents of Bethany in a variety of ways, including transporting residents to activities, assisting with special events, walking the facility’s pets and helping out in the Coffee and Gift Shops. He is often joined at Bethany by his little sister, Faith.

"Zach is truly a joy to have around." says Emily Gunderson, Bethany’s Director of Community Life. "The residents just love him and he is willing to do whatever we ask to help the residents. And, he always does his work here with a smile on his face. He's a great role model for other young people."

Bethany Retirement Living, a senior living community, was founded in Fargo in 1939 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bethany provides high-quality care to the elderly in skilled nursing, rehabilitation, basic care, assisted living, senior apartments and personal care services.

AVID Students Encounter College

The second annual University of Florida Gator Encounter AVID Statewide Student Conference was a huge success. On April 18, more than 550 AVID students, teachers, and chaperones from 11 Florida AVID districts toured the UF campus. 

Students got a chance to experience the campus, where they browsed exhibits, participated in classroom presentations, met with faculty, ate lunch in Gator Dining, and attended the UF Orange and Blue football game. There was even a special pep rally for the AVID students, with beads and candy thrown into the crowd.

O'Banion AVID Visits King Tut

"History teaches everything - including the future!"

Imagine going back in time thousands of years and seeing items, art, documents and artifacts touched by kings and pharaohs from Ancient Egypt - items whose worth is priceless but are only inches away.

This was the unique and once in a lifetime experience had by O’Banion Middle School’s 7th and 8th grade AVID students as they toured the Dallas Museum of Art’s exhibit of "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

Thanks to the generosity of several donors all 100 AVID students were treated to a unique audio tour of the exhibit. The audio tour brought the exhibit alive for these students with expressive narration by Omar Shariff. 

Ancient Egypt is important because it marks the beginnings of civilization. The secrets of this first society teach us how the modern world came to be. 

King Tut, the boy king, died at age 18 or 19 from unknown causes. His mummy was discovered in 1922. This discovery was important because robbers had not detected his tomb and many of the treasures were discovered, preserved and ready to be viewed by millions of people.

The exhibit will be in Dallas only until May and after that returns to Egypt. For our students and chaperones this was an unforgettable field trip.

Facing GIANTS

In its first year with AVID, Ennis Junior High 7th and 8th graders took on a special task. After watching a film, they began discussing GIANTS they face in their everyday lives. Always eager to make a difference, the students decided to write a series of children’s books and share them with students in the elementary schools. The AVID students were able to bond as they talked about their fears and personal challenges that threatened to hold them back. However, the greatest gift came when they realized the difference they could make in a younger student's life by sharing their AVID stories.

A Moving Story, An Inspirational Guest Speaker

Students at Gordon Russell Middle School researched Sudan and the conflict there and watched the documentary The Lost Boys of Sudan. Isaac Chol Achuil, a recent graduate from the University of Portland with a degree in Political Science, was one of thousands of young male Sudanese refugees who moved to the United States. Isaac visited the Gordon Russell AVID students and shared his inspirational story. You can read about Isaac's odyssey here.

College Road Trip

In 2008, the Moreno Valley High School AVID program took its first ever Junior Road Trip. The five day, four night trip allowed students to visit 13 colleges in Central and Northern California, the state Capitol building, Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, and Alcatraz.

Iron Inspiration

This year, Jonathan Haack’s AVID class at De Vargas Middle School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, had three mentors come speak to the class: former Deputy Chief David Osuna; luthier Keith Vizcarra; and artist and welder Neil Ottaviano. The last visiting mentor donated approximately $5,000 worth of materials, labor, and artistic effort to the AVID students. This picture is of the 3D metal sculpture Neil Ottaviano made in honor of De Vargas Middle School, AVID Electives, and Haack’s class. The art piece will be part of the classroom and elective for years to come. “To me, it symbolizes the reason I became a teacher:  to inspire students with how learning gives them power over the real world and a direct impact on their own lives,” says Haack. “Needless to say, the students are overjoyed and I am now being flooded with requests to join AVID!”

College Tours

Mableton, GA

Pebblebrook’s AVID program took its first overnight field trip to The University of Georgia and Clemson University. The memorable visits allowed students to meet with Pebblebrook alumni who now attend those schools. Alumni ate lunch with the students, discussed college life, and even showed their dorm rooms. At UGA students were able to experience the quaint diners and coffee shops in Athens, as well as ring the Chapel Bell. At Clemson, Professor Hogan gave a special tour of the architecture building.