By Kate Day

Joe Hu/Town Crier Los Altos High School AVID instructor Roma Hammel talks with students during class.

“Who wants to go to a four-year college?” Roma Hammel asked her junior class at Los Altos High School. Every hand shot into the air as a cheer erupted.

The energy and enthusiasm was, perhaps, surprising. But these are AVID kids, students who are part of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, an in-school support system for grades 5-12, designed to prepare academically average children for college eligibility.

The AVID Fun and Wellness Day on April 22 raised $10,000 for a scholarship fund to help support college students financially.

Joanne Miyahara introduced AVID to LAHS in 1991 with 50 students. Of the 180 AVID students in the school, the majority are from low-income or minority backgrounds and aim to be the first in their families to attend college. In 2005, the dedication of students and staff was rewarded when LAHS was selected as a “Distinguished AVID School.”

“My parents didn’t go to college, and they didn’t know how the system works or how to prepare for the SAT,” said junior Eder Zuniga. He is not alone. Only one of Hammel’s AVID class has college-educated parents, and many parents did not attend high school.

Jade Alvarez, who graduated from LAHS in 2001 and went on to get a BA in English and creative writing from California State University Monterey Bay, joined AVID as a senior. “The best thing about AVID was the mentoring and guidance I received from my AVID teacher. She took on a parental role,” she said.

AVID classes form a close community, with an emphasis on supporting each other. “AVID’s like our family,” said freshman Mayra Ochoa. “If one of us fails, everyone else does.”

This sense of community extends beyond high school. Alvarez returned to LAHS this academic year as an instructional aide for the English-language development program and wants to train as a teacher. “I need more classroom experience, but I have my degree now,” she said. Former AVID student Michael Smith, who graduated from LAHS in 1996, now teaches AVID to grades 9 and 10.

The program also provides an opportunity for other students to be peer mentors. Senior Dante Chesa originally signed up because he needed another class. “But then I enjoyed it so much I took an extra class,” he said.

“It’s got me to hang out with different groups of people. I now realize that they might be different, but there are lots of similarities between us,” Chesa said. “We all want an education.”

Program coordinator Roma Hammel said her motivation to become an AVID teacher stemmed from frustration with the limited impact she saw high school having on some students. “I looked at how their lives were when they came in (to the school) and how their lives were when they left. We hadn’t broken the cycle of general poverty,” she said. “And if schools don’t do that, how is it going to happen?”

The program emphasizes critical reading, writing and research; helps students prepare for exams, write scholarship essays and complete financial aid applications; and organizes field trips to colleges. Tutors provide extra help in specific subjects, and AVID teachers closely monitor the development of each student. All AVID juniors and seniors complete in-depth investigations into how great leaders have become catalysts for change.

LAHS students can join AVID in any grade, providing they demonstrate their commitment to attending a four-year college and have a GPA of at least 2.0. They have to maintain their grades to stay in the program, which they take alongside their other classes.

“Many of these kids are not as well prepared for high school,” Hammel said. “The majority come from Graham and Crittenden middle schools. These schools have great teachers and are great schools, but they have more academic challenges. AVID levels the playing field and changes lives.”

The statistics are certainly impressive. Of last year’s 44 seniors, 40 were accepted to four-year colleges and the rest to community colleges. Data kept by the school suggest that 80 percent of AVID students graduate from a four-year college - the national average is 35 percent.

But not everyone can afford to assume their college place. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Celia Baron, the AVID teacher of the class of 2005. “They have worked so hard, and we try and try to help them get funding, but sometimes they have to wait until they can go. These are kids whose parents are struggling to make the rent. There’s no extra for college.”

The estimated cost of attending a school in the University of California system in 2005-2006 is $22,150, Baron said. A California State University costs about $12,000, or $5,000 if students live rent-free at home. But attending a private institution, such as the University of San Francisco, costs as much as $41,000. “The $10,000 raised at the fun and wellness day is great - but compared to the cost of a college place, it’s not much,” Baron said.

For more information about the AVID program, visit www.avidfunandwellnessday.org. To make a donation, send a check made payable to Los Altos High School AVID Scholarship Fund to AVID Fun and Wellness Day, attn: Goodstein Foundation, 306 Bryant St., Palo Alto 94301.