Several Fountain Hills High School students came to campus afterhours on Thursday, Sept. 20, to make a huge commitment. The students signed their AVID contracts, agreeing to years of academic rigor.

AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. The program has existed at the high school since the 2016-17 school year. Laura Herron is revamping the program in her second year as the AVID coordinator. There are more students in the program than ever, and staff tried to make the contract signings feel like athletic scholarship signings.

“We wanted to make them feel special,” Herron said. “This is a very special group of students. AVID is very near and dear to my heart and I think sometimes it doesn’t get the show that other things get.”

Students and their families came for the signing ceremony held in the school library. The school provided drinks, snacks and cake for the AVID students and their families. Herron is the only AVID elective teacher, but other teachers on the site team sat with students and cheered them on.

Students can only join the AVID program as freshmen or sophomores. The program now has 31 students, 28 of them underclassmen. The three juniors in the program make up more than half of the five returning AVID students.

Each year, students apply and are interviewed before the selection process. Fountain Hills restructured Herron’s schedule to include two elective classes this year, so the AVID program was able to accept everyone that applied this year.

AVID uses the WICOR curriculum to teach students strategies for educational success, like taking focused notes and working on critical reading. The AVID students also have Socratic style tutorials twice a week to help them discuss lessons and ask questions. WICOR stands for Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading.

“We will eventually train other people to be AVID elective teachers,” Herron said. “Then we will be ‘AVID school-wide.’ That’s our goal, to be AVID school-wide by the end of next school year. That means that every teacher in every classroom is using WICOR strategies and AVID best practices, so AVID is infused into everything we do.”

AVID is a national organization and, according to AVID.org, 90% of AVID seniors who apply are accepted to a four-year college. Herron is familiar with the program, as she was AVID coordinator for a school district in Dallas, Texas, before coming to Fountain Hills. Many of the AVID students will be first-generation college students, something Herron is also familiar with.

“I’m a first-generation college student,” Herron said. “I had no idea how to go about applying for scholarships and FAFSA. I’m happy to share my knowledge with these kids and help avoid some of the hurdles I went through.”

Delaney Kazee, a first-year social studies teacher at the high school, is a part of the site team and an AVID alum. She spoke to the students before they signed contracts about the benefits she experienced from the program while living in Colorado.

AVID pushes kids to be better students and helps them with hard classes. It is by no means a traditional study hall period. Herron said she wants the school to eat, sleep and breathe college readiness and post-secondary goals for all students through the development of the AVID program.