They may work at opposite high schools, but Naomi Fuentes and Teysha Tindol share the common passion of AVID.
The acronym stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. The district website says AVID’s systemic approach is designed to support students and educators as they increase schoolwide/districtwide college and career readiness.
Tindol had been an AVID coordinator for one year at Bonham Middle School and is now at Permian High School.
Fuentes has been at Odessa High School for 16 years. She was an English teacher before AVID and they allowed her to teach an AVID class.
“I loved it. That’s when I begged them to let me go all AVID …,” Fuentes said, and she was allowed.
Tindol started off as a Texas history teacher and got moved to AVID after a year. The following year, she became the AVID coordinator. She moved to Permian for a coaching position. There were no AVID openings, so she taught special education for two years.
“I loved it, but I just felt like something was missing and I knew in my heart that it was AVID,” Tindol said.
When an opening came up, she moved into teaching AVID and when coordinator Robyn Hernandez-Flores moved to Odessa Collegiate Academy, Tindol moved to the coordinator spot.
“I love how we get to focus on the whole kid instead of just a content area. And what I mean by that is their mental health, their personal growth, personal development … kind of teach them how to do school and make sure they’re successful. We get to see that,” Fuentes said.
She added that they get to see everything instead of just one little piece.
Tindol agreed and added that they get to know the students on a “totally deeper level than you’d ever get to … in another class.”
“I always say AVID is designed that way, but also the right teacher with the right students it just creates the biggest family environment; the most comfort … I feel like I know who every single one of my kids is as an individual,” Tindol added.
OHS has a little more than 380 students in AVID and Permian has about 375.
A lot of times, Tindol said students fill out the AVID application in sixth grade to start in seventh.
“We try to keep it from seventh to 12th grade, but they can apply any year. They go through an interview process and then a selection process,” Tindol said.
Fuentes said that is the optimal way, but counselors and teachers can recommend students, as well.
There are several criteria for AVID, but Fuentes said they only have to meet one, such as being a first-generation college student or high school graduate; being part of an underrepresented population; at risk; and their GPA should be in the 2.00 to 3.00 range with the goal of increasing it.
Special circumstances such as being adopted or living with their grandparents can be factors, Fuentes said.
“We really hate turning them away,” Fuentes said.
A lot of times, Tindol said, counselors will call AVID and tell them about a student they think would be great for the program.
“I’d say 99% of the time, we’ll bring them in,” Tindol said.
Tindol said she is referred to as AVID mom sometimes because they are with those students daily at school.
“I’ve had kids say life is so hard outside of this classroom. Once I come in here, I can just breathe … That’s the space we want to create for them. They’ve got so much going on in other classes, and we just try to help them succeed in those classes,” Tindol added.
What’s unique about their classes is that they have tutors that come in sometimes twice a week to work with students on the lessons that they’re struggling with.
Students that are having trouble with Algebra II, for example, will be grouped together to work on an assignment and see what questions they have.
Along with academic help, Fuentes and Tindol said they can refer students to outside resources if they need them. Tindol, who coaches volleyball and track, said if she doesn’t know the answer, she’ll find someone who does.
“I always say the kids that I get to have in athletics and AVID, that connection is just so different. A lot of my students that I have right now as seniors … They were my first group of AVID students as seventh graders at Bonham, so I had them as seventh and eighth graders. Now I’m back full circle with them as seniors, getting to watch them get scholarships, get accepted to school. Today (Feb. 7) two of them signed to go play sports at the next level,” Tindol said.
Fuentes acknowledged that she has seen generations of AVID students.
“It is a good feeling … I love going to graduation just to watch them. Those are my kids; those are my students. I helped them,” Fuentes said.
Tindol said her students ask her if she will come to their graduation at Odessa College where they will get their associate degree.
Both Fuentes and Tindol are from Odessa and both graduated from OHS.
Fuentes went to Odessa College and UTPB and Tindol to UTPB.
Fuentes earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in psychology. Tindol earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in psychology.
Tindol said she’s always had an interest in education.
“Through sports, I found out I really love working with kids and I … kind of used it to help me be successful in the classroom,” Tindol said.
She added that she would like AVID to become a national demonstration school just like OHS.
“It’s a game changer for the whole school if every student has that opportunity to be taught using AVID strategies, or even teachers when they’re AVID trained, it’s a game changer for them. That’s actually how I got into it. The old coordinator let me go to a training and I was like, yeah, that’s going to change my teaching. And from then (on) I loved it,” Fuentes said.
She added that the goal is to get as many teachers trained in AVID as soon as possible.
Tindol said AVID isn’t just an elective. It’s designed for an entire campus. It’s a system that can help grow your campus and take it to the national demonstration level.
Fuentes said AVID doesn’t just gives students skills to be successful right now. It will help them after high school.
It also teaches the students life skills like critical thinking, conflict resolution, speech, communication, organization and learning how to ask good questions, among other things.
Tindol said the program works.
“I think we are so fortunate to be in the position that we’re in to be able to teach this. Anytime I’ve ever even considered teaching something else, I quickly changed my mind because this is exactly where I want to be. This is exactly the environment I want to be in. I think … my greatest … joy of this job is seeing kids achieve their dreams. It’s just been the most rewarding part of any job I’ve ever had,” Tindol said.
Fuentes said she doesn’t see herself leaving.
“It is rewarding. It is very rewarding,” she added.
