Growing up, some students never hear anyone say, “You can go to college.”
“They don’t hear those words,” said Beverly Nyberg, who teaches English and the AVID college-readiness program at Everett’s Cascade High School.
When a family has no experience with college, a student’s determination may not be enough to get them there. Through AVID — Advancement Via Individual Determination — Nyberg said students “have somebody to give them a boost.”
The curriculum includes strengthening academic skills, but also extras that are a given for more affluent families. Campus visits, help with college applications, even basic supplies are available to AVID students.
On Saturday, the public can help support aspiring students at the first-ever AVID HighFive Walkathon. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Everett, the fund-raiser is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. on the track at Cascade High School.
Shayne Kraemer, development director of the KSER Foundation, is a Rotary member and walkathon organizer. Saturday’s goal is at least $10,000, with participants raising $25 or more in pledges, he said. But anyone is welcome to walk, donating any amount.
Students in AVID classes at Cascade and Everett High School have worked to sign up walkers and gather pledges.
“I was a first-generation college student, ” the 44-year-old Kraemer said. Raised in Tumwater, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Washington.
Beyond college costs, he sees other barriers keeping some students from continuing their education.
“There’s a perception, almost internalized, that they aren’t capable,” Kraemer said. In some immigrant families, he said, students find it difficult to leave because they are interpreters for parents, or they provide other support.
The Everett Rotary has helped AVID for years, financially and by providing mentors and classroom speakers. Ed Petersen, an Everett Rotary leader and CEO of Housing Hope, said the club calls its support of AVID the “Next Generation Project”. “This is the third year of a four-year commitment, at $50,000 a year,” Petersen said. The club leverages other money for the project, including help from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation.
Rotary support pays for campus visits, summer school, and fees for college credits in high school. And AVID students are gaining experience through the walkathon and speaking at Rotary meetings, Petersen said.
Garrett Jones, a 17-year-old junior at Cascade, has been in Jodi Worthington’s AVID class at Cascade since freshman year. He hopes to attend UW Bothell. Before starting high school, he said he was “utterly confused” by the college application process. “AVID helped me feel a lot more comfortable, more prepared,” he said.
Jeanne Willard, the Everett School District’s director of on-time graduation, said about 400 students in the district’s high schools are in AVID, and 120 of its middle school students. Willard said AVID helps kids who would be the first in their families to attend college, and also those “kind of in the middle” academically.
On Thursday, the Everett Rotary is also helping 10 college-bound AVID students with its annual shopping spree. They will have $500 each to spend at the Fred Meyer store near Mill Creek.
Dr. Amy Norman, an Everett dentist and Rotary member, is heading this year’s shopping event. Each student, with a parent and one Rotary member, will have two hours to spend $500. The kids will outfit dorm rooms, or even buy computers.
Norman said the shopping scholarships deliver a strong message: “I see potential in you, and you are worth my time and investment. I expect great things from you.”
Erin Acheson, who teaches AVID at Cascade, said that on Nov. 14 students visited more than a half-dozen campuses. Nyberg and Trish Roberts, Cascade’s career specialist, led the four-day trip, which included Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, the University of Idaho, Eastern Oregon State University and other campuses.
“We couldn’t do it without Rotary,” Acheson said. “Seeing themselves on a college campus is really important. It’s not just a place they see in the movies. It’s an actual place, with kids who look like them.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Walkathon for
AVID students
The AVID HighFive Walkathon, sponsored by Rotary Club of Everett, is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. Saturday at the Cascade High School track, 801 E. Casino Road, Everett. Donations will support AVID program supplies, scholarships and college visits. Sign-ups 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Cascade or online at:
http://portal.clubrunner.ca/270/Page/avid-2015-walkathon
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