Get The Ink Out:

Oh, boy. Two hundred students. Staring. At me.

How did I get myself into this mess? Well, let’s just say I have a slight problem saying no to my past. My sister’s AVID teacher, Barbara Elia, asked me to speak to the class, and then it expanded it to any interested students at my alma mater, Bishop Union High School, about my career and journey to becoming an editor.

I warned Elia that it’s not exactly glamorous or awe-inspiring, but she said the path I took to get where I am was more important.

Thankfully, it turned out that only about 60 kids wanted to know all about past participles, AP Style guides and what a deck is. They really busted my chops with questions like, “Have you ever thought about changing careers?” Truth be told, I still wonder what my life would be like if Mom hadn’t talked me out of becoming a veterinarian.

But back to AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. This is a wonderful program that should be implemented in all schools and somehow made available to all students, or at least parts of it should be required for all high school students.

For instance, my sister is far more prepared than I ever was for the college application process. She also knows a heck of a lot more about various colleges and universities than I did.

And AVID students get to hear from people who have gone on that journey from high school to college to the real world.

According to Elia, one of the points of AVID is to expose students to possible careers. I really, really doubt any of the students I spoke to have a burning desire to become journalists, but at least they know the field exists and what it entails — and can cross it off their lists of possible careers.

Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do, but I think for high school students words like “no money,” “lots of hours” and “angry phone calls” don’t exactly strike them as fun.

In Newport-Mesa Unified School District, four high schools and three middle schools have AVID programs with a grand total of 705 students enrolled, said Director of Secondary Programs Tom Antal.

Each AVID teacher has some wiggle room to shape the program around their strengths, but the core ideal of giving students that extra little bit of help they need to get into college is always there, starting with the basic step of giving students help with their homework.

“The programs have many variables and really demonstrate some variety,” Antal said. “They all focus on college readiness and tutoring to strengthen the students’ academic skills.”

Antal put me in touch with Jacqueline Washington, who is an AVID coordinator, and teaches seventh-grade AVID along with Stacie Paulus and Misty Smith, and is an eighth-grade history teacher at TeWinkle Middle School, and Angela Newman, AVID director and social science department chairwoman at Newport Harbor High School.

In addition to the normal AVID activities, like tutoring, college visits, writing and research skills, these ladies have a few extra fun tricks up their sleeves.

Washington said that in March, the high school AVID teacher will be stopping by to help students plan out their classes for all four years. Amazing.

When I was preparing for high school, I had no real idea of what path to take. My parents and I muddled our way through choosing my freshman class schedule, and it turned out OK, but I would have given anything to have had an expert direct me on what to take.

The other part of Washington’s class that I really like is the policy that “Our Backpack is Not A Trashcan!”

How many times did I pull my binders and books out of my backpack only to find some homework assignment wadded up in the bottom?

Over at Newport Harbor, they’ve started a partnership with UC Irvine’s Global Studies program whereby students are exposed to college lectures, Newman said. Brilliant. What better way to see what college is like than to actually attend a lecture or two?

Newman highlighted what’s probably the best part of AVID.

“AVID is considered a family — we have family night where all grade levels get together at the end of the year to say goodbye to the seniors,” she said. “The teachers develop such a bond with the students that we still keep in touch many years later, and we have generations that have gone through the program.”

AVID isn’t just a class to get homework help. It gives students a chance to network with one another and other generations who have gone through the program. They learn valuable life skills and have some inkling of what the future holds for them.

But enough of me on my soapbox. I’ll close this with a couple of student voices.

“I want to go to college because it’s my chance for a better future,” Amber Gibson said. “AVID helped in my quest to do so by giving me scholarship opportunities and teaching me about the colleges.”

“In the future, I dream of being a pediatrician,” Vanessa Torres said. “I am going to need to go to college for many years. College has been my parents’ dream, too. They were never able to accomplish this dream, and I want to do it for them.”

JAMIE ROWE is a copy editor for the Daily Pilot. She may be reached at (714) 966-4634 or jamie.rowe@latimes.com. Squee would like to say congratulations to Jeff Deruso here because cats aren’t allowed to attend Eagle Court of Honor ceremonies.