Grapevine Middle School

For weeks Grapevine Middle School students in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program had researched colleges across America, and on March 9, they had an opportunity to share with their peers their choices as part of the campus-wide “College Fair.”

Eighth grader Dylan Moreno stood ready by his presentation board about Texas A&M University, fielding questions about costs, graduation and acceptance rates, and university majors.

Having done his homework, Moreno had all of those facts and more listed on his board, which impressed the steady stream of students rotating through the school’s gym visiting the various stations.

At the neighboring station was eighth grader Bella O’Bannon who was making a pitch for Yale University.

“We did a ton of research, like where is it located, what is the acceptance rate and what famous alumni have attended. I think we have a lot of people voting for us,” she said.

O’Bannon was referring to the votes that students cast after they visited stations since distinction awards, such as best presentation, would be distributed after the event.

GMS AVID coordinator Jennifer Bryant said that researching and visiting colleges also serves an important purpose.

“Seeing the school, they come to an actualization of what it looks like,” she said. “It changes their whole trajectory.”

Helping students aspire to college and careers is only one of the goals of AVID. The program also focuses on developing skills that help students now and in the future.

“Our tenets of AVID are really focused around WICOR - writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading,” Bryant added. “We do a lot of focus notes and how to use them because those are skills that they are going to need when they go to high school and college. We spend a lot of time on perfecting those skills.”

Eighth grader Madelin Erazo, whose presentation was about Louisiana State University, said that the program has helped keep her more organized.

Not only that, she sees college in her future.

“I felt like AVID has helped me and given me motivation to go to college,” she said. “I have something to work toward.”

AVID is offered in all of GCISD’s middle schools, Colleyville Heritage High School and Grapevine High School.