Senior Rachel Demeny opens her planner and reads intently. Realizing she has a project due in a little over a week, she uses her organizational skills she learned in AVID to complete it on time.

“AVID has really helped me become a more organized person,” Demeny said. “Without AVID, I probably would not have made the kind of grades I make today.”

AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a program that helps intermediate and high school students prepare for college. The program began in 1980 by English teacher Mary Catherine Swanson.

“‘For more than 30 years, AVID has helped many of whom are overlooked and underserved.’ This quote really distinguishes it from any of the other programs,” AVID teacher Margaret Leach said.

The AVID program is based on the socratic method, meaning the instructor only guides the student onto the correct path that he or she needs to be on in order to get the right answer.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, AVID classes across the nation have tutorial days. On these tutorial days, the students attempt to explain their “point of confusion.” The students go up to the board, present their problem, and for 30 seconds, work the problem for the class. This helps the instructor better understand where the problem lies.

“Sometimes I wish that I had this in high school,” Leach said. “AVID is very beneficial to students who struggle.”

Ten thousand students have graduated out of the program. Studies show 90 percent of students attended college after high school and 89 percent of those students were still going strong after two years.

“A lot of people think that AVID does the work for them [the students], but in reality they do it all themselves,” Leach said. “AVID is just a support for students that struggle.”