College Dreams Realized

The April vacation break is traditionally a time when high school juniors start looking at colleges. It is also a time when high school seniors are in the final stages of deciding where they will call home for the next four years with commitments due by May 1.

Sweet 16

For a group of 16 seniors at Greenwich High School enrolled in an elective called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), this process is a milestone. Grants provided by the Greenwich Alliance for Education first brought the program to GHS in 2008. Fast forward four years, now those students are the first AVID class to graduate from GHS.

AVID is a nationally acclaimed program that provides intensive skills development and mentoring for students in the academic "middle" who have the potential to attend a quality four-year college, but who may lack the resources for preparing for and applying to college.

Its mission is "to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society."

Closing The Circle And Making Choices

Last week Missy Brown, GHS English and AVID senior class teacher, Judith Nedell, Coordinator of Guidance and Mara Adelsberg, Sheldon House Guidance Counselor and AVID Site Coordinator, hosted an AVID Decision Night for the seniors. According to Adelsberg, the “key reason for this workshop was to bring parents into the conversation” the students have been having all year in class.

Since “choosing a college is a major decision,” the intent was “to close the circle and provide a comprehensive service to families,” said Adelsberg. The three assisted attendees with “questions ranging from financial aid to campus culture to selecting the right dorm. All of these students will be the first in their families to attend college and this can be very exciting and scary all at the same time,” explained Adelsberg.

Funding The Education

Given that the most intricate and daunting part of the process often is the financial component, the AVID class uses various tools including College Scorecard, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Education and can be found on the White House website. Other resources used in the financial aid process include the Naviance  and Collegeboard websites.

Colleges also are now required to include a “net price calculator” on their websites to assist students and parents determine what they can afford. Through this financial review, the students are better able to determine the full cost of their college choice not just next year but in the coming years as well.

Adelsberg explained that the students are all “encouraged to seek the support of their guidance counselor throughout this process” in addition to the Avid teachers. The workshop last week entailed reviewing personalized spreadsheets with the families, which included information such as the colleges where they were accepted and any merit money and financial aid awarded.

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Beyond tuition and room and board, consideration is given to other college related fees and expenses as well such as estimated travel costs. Of course, there are other components of the college experience that were also included in the review; majors offered, housing options and extracurriculars. Adelsbeg said that “the purpose of this is to help students and their families make an informed decision.”

College Acceptances

To date, 15 of the 16 AVID students have been accepted to colleges such as University of Connecticut at Storrs, Drexel University, University of New Hampshire, Pace University, Sacred Heart University, Providence College, University of Rhode Island, Southern Connecticut State University, St. John’s University, Boston University, Eastern Connecticut State, Miami of Ohio, Syracuse, Adelphi and even Brigham Young in Idaho (yes, they have a campus in Idaho.) And as if the number and range of acceptances is not impressive enough, the seniors have been awarded more than $250,000 in merit awards with one student awarded an impressive $76,000.

One of the participants last week was Annie (Qirong) Zheng who is trying to decide between University of Connecticut at Storrs and Syracuse University. The senior plans on visiting both schools during this week's April break. Zheng, who stated that both schools are similar in terms of academics and financial aid assistance, is hopeful that being on the campuses will be persuasive in helping her to make the decision, which needs to be filed for May 1.

When A Class Turns Into A Family

When asked about her AVID experience, Zheng smiles widely and calls it her “academic family.” She explains that the class is “family oriented and supportive,” and adds that the students are “open and really talk to each other.

The senior said that the past four years have been “enlightening” explaining that the “motto” of the class is to “find your potential and try to go beyond that.” She believes that the class has achieved that goal; “everyone has improved socially and academically,” she said. “I didn’t expect the social part. I am now much more comfortable stepping into a foreign situation.”

Zheng said that she would like to work one day in the nonprofit field, however, being able to “sustain a cost of living” is also a priority, so international relations is also a possibility.

Another AVID senior, Jenny Cespedes, and her father, Edgar, also attended the workshop. The senior said that she is leaning towards Eastern Connecticut State University, but is still weighing her options. Her father is clearly very proud of his daughter who just also received the Fleishman Service Award for community service earlier this month.

Cespedes said that in addition to the AVID class experience being “very helpful” she also appreciates that deep “bond” that she has been able to develop with her teacher, Missy Brown. Explaining that she has another adult to talk to and rely on for support, she smiles and says, “we are very close.”

Other Avid Champions

The four-year bond is a unique feature to AVID in that each class year has a teacher assigned to them who will work with them throughout their high school stay to provide continuous support and guidance as Brown has done with this senior class. Representing wide academic diversity, the other AVID teachers include Ken Alcorn, GHS Social Studies and junior class teacher, Sara Goldin, GHS Science teacher and sophomore class teacher and Laura Brill, GHS English teacher and freshmen class teacher. An average AVID class is between 24 to 26 students, but often additional students who are not enrolled in the class attend the AVID classes during their open classes.

Once again an AVID team from GHS who will travel to Philadelphia this summer to attend AVID's annual professional learning training, Summer Institute. The following teachers are scheduled to attend:

• Laura Brill – current freshman class teacher and next year’s sophomore class teacher
• Ken Alcorn – current junior class teacher and next year’s senior class teacher
• Judy Nedell - Coordinator of Guidance
• Mara Adelsberg – AVID site coordinator
• Frank Kovac – next year’s freshman class teacher
• Dan Robinson – a GHS math teacher

Nedell, who attended the summer institute last year, said that for the most part, the AVID program is what she expected. However what was a “pleasant surprise” to the educator was the program’s “impact on the whole school calling it a much “wider effect” than what she anticipated.

She states that AVID “suits this building’s personality” and that GHS teachers are looking to implement AVID methods in their classrooms and that “unlike other professional learning, this is peer to peer.”

Additional Support Needed

As the GHS Avid team sends one group of students off to college and prepares for next year, the Greenwich Alliance for Education has established a College Assistance Program to aid the these graduating seniors by helping to cover the cost of other academic related expenses such as computers, books & supplies.

For more information about how to contribute to this fund, contact the Greenwich Alliance Executive Director Julie Faryniarz at julie@greenwichalliance.org.