My name is Catryce Thompson and I am a senior at Kentwood High School in Covington. During my freshman year I was accepted into the AVID program and began participating in the program during my sophomore year. Recently with budget cuts, the Kent School District announced they are cutting AVID after starting up the program in our middle schools. AVID is a needed program in the KSD especially for first-generation college students.

My AVID class will be the first and the last to graduate from Kentwood. This program has helped to prepare my peers and I for what lies ahead for us in regards to schooling. All of my peers and I have been accepted into colleges, most of us got into four-year universities. Not only has AVID helped us get our feet into the doors of many colleges (for myself I was accepted into 15), it has prepared us for the classes we will be taking this upcoming fall. We are required to maintain a certain GPA, take Cornell notes in each of our classes, sit in the front of our classrooms, maintain an organized backpack and binder, as well as practice public speaking and reading strategies. Though college has always been on my mind, AVID has provided me with a support system of teachers and administrators.

My AVID teacher, Jennifer Dragavon, has been one of my biggest supporters in high school. She has helped me to write essays for college admissions, as well as scholarships. She has also been there to give advice when I have worried about a variety of different things that college involves such as finances and living on my own.

If the KSD gives up AVID then it gives up the opportunity to help minority, first-generation students achieve their greatest dreams. I want to get the word out and I want to save AVID.

Sincerely,

Catryce R. Thompson