Advancement Via Individual Determination by Emilio

Advancement Via Individual Determination by Emilio - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

Coming from a disadvantaged area I was always one step behind everyone in the academic field. I was once considered to have special needs due to never paying attention in class and always being sent home for getting in trouble. From elementary school, I chose to go to a better middle school rather than the closest one to me. This change in scenery was a culture shock at first because everything was just better at the new middle school. This changed my study skills, but I still was a below-average student.

Coming into high school I was going to be a mid-tear student. I had no honors classes in my schedule, I was just planning to coast through high school. I believed I was just a basic student whose only goal was to just graduate. That was until I signed up for the new AVID program coming to the high school I planned to go to. I had heard over the announcements in middle school that AVID was a program for low-income minority students who were going to be the first in their family to go to college. Not knowing if I truly wanted to college I decided to give AVID a chance. Hearing this was going to be the first graduating AVID class I just wanted to be apart of something.

When entering the AVID classroom for the first time I felt welcomed. I was surrounded by classmates on the same boat as myself, not knowing what they will do in the future. Our teacher began telling us about the benefits of going to college and I was all ears in. I soon heard a screeching record when our teacher said AVID was going to require to have at least one honors class. I had felt I was too stupid to take on an honors class. I had discussed this with our teacher and she encouraged me to join an honors class. When the first semester had ended the AVID program decided to host a small award ceremony for AVID students who had received above a 3.0 GPA. This was the first award I had received academically. Something snapped in my head that I was smart and not stupid. I challenged myself by transferring from my regular English class to an honors class in the second semester. By the end of the semester, I had finished with all A's in every course. I had gained the confidence to pursue higher academically.

With this newfound confidence, I had signed up for five of six classes to be honors. I once again finished that first semester with all A's. But, I couldn't have received high grades in these courses without the use of TRFs in AVID. These TRFs are in class tutorials in AVID that you work at a group on any topic you are struggling with. When TRFs we not able to help me in my classes, I often went to after school tutoring with the teacher class I was struggling in. The AVID skill that helped me the most was Cornell notes. These were notes I took on my own in any course in which I could go back to and study.

Without AVID I could only guess where I would be today. I feel I would still be just cruising through high school, not knowing what will happen next in my life. I would be scared and only having thoughts of what could have been. Nearing the top of my high school career I am the top of my high school class. I could have never expected this from myself from entering high school. I wish I had gained this confidence earlier, but I feel I would not have learned my life lessons.