Students in Ector County ISD’s AVID program spoke about what they need from the community, the need for better mentoring and financial support, especially when it comes to dual credit at a recent Youth Symposium.
Presented by the Permian Basin Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition, it was held at the Woodson Boys and Girls Club.
Some of the seniors participating were Natalya Aguilera, 17, from Odessa Collegiate Academy; Jamarion Lane, 17, Braden Pry, 18; and 17-year-old Brooke Wooldridge.
Aguilera plans to attend Texas Tech University to likely study biology; Pry, Angelo State University to study sports management or kinesiology; Wooldridge wants to become an ultrasound tech, but is undecided on where to go to college; and Lane wants to become an artist, but also is undecided on a college.
“The original prompt was to basically write a speech about what you need your community to do to better help you as an individual and all the other students. So what can the community do to help us become more successful,” Lane said.
Wooldridge said she felt what they needed from the community was better mentors, people who would be there to guide them to a better future.
“I also felt like we needed more financial help with school, especially when it comes to dual credit classes; with bettering our future. It’s hard to finance it and I feel like if we had a better financial chance, then more kids could better their future,” Wooldridge said.
Pry said he thought they needed more opportunity because there had been multiple cases where people haven’t been able to get where they want, “or they’ve had to do certain things to be able to get to the places that they need to be without any help.”
Lane agreed saying he believes they need more chances and better opportunities.
“We need to focus on these students as individuals instead of just a whole group so more emphasis mental health, tutoring and even possibly setting up a system to where we can have a grace period in between our regular rigorous work schedule and stuff like that,” Lane said.
He added that it was the first time he had done public speaking. Lane said it was kind of nerve-racking and he was relieved that he got through it.
Wooldridge said she had done things like public speaking before.
“But I’m also a very social person. It doesn’t really bother me. I was anxious, but I felt like it was needed. It was important,” she said.
“… It also just betters our chances of getting into colleges and building a career,” Wooldridge said.
Lane said the program has kept him organized in his academic life.
“… Without that, I wouldn’t be nearly as organized or nearly as hard working as I am now,” Lane said.
Pry said AVID has helped him with organization and “just knowing how to be better in school, but also out of school,” Pry said.
“… Before I was an AVID, I had no idea where to even start on how to get into college. That’s all I knew is I wanted to go to college, but (didn’t) know where to start. And so coming into AVID, it helped me set up a plan to be able to start somewhere. It helped me to know what I want to be when I grew up and, overall, what to what to do and what to know,” Pry said.
Wooldridge said no one in her family could answer her questions about college.
“So to have AVID and to have someone who has been experienced and can help us is a great thing to have,” she added.
They all have a sense of community and family from AVID.
“It’s a very supportive and safe space to be in most of the time,” Lane said. “When one of us succeeds, it feels like we all succeed. It’s just really good at bringing everybody together, to unify on one common goal and that is to succeed in whatever we want to do. And I feel like AVID does a really good job bringing that sense of camaraderie to each other.”
Aguilera, at Odessa Collegiate Academy, said her AVID teacher recommended her to speak at the symposium. She had previously spoken at an Odessa College Student Government Association panel.
“… She picked me because I was already comfortable with speaking to an audience and she felt that I’d be really good that,” Aguilera said.
She said the speeches each student gave varied.
“… For me personally, I’m under McKinney- Vento here at school, so I’m an unaccompanied youth. I don’t have my parents here with me, and for me, what I need not having that support from home, I need it from school,” Aguilera said.
Her family is scattered all over the place. Originally, she is from here and wound up back in Odessa. She lives with her aunts.
When it comes to making decisions about colleges, she said she truly needs the support from AVID teachers and that community.
“… I don’t think that I would have (gotten) the opportunity before. I don’t think I would have offered myself to do this speech. I don’t think I would have had the same motivation or encouragement in any other environment, so I think having (that) in my AVID teachers, it’s really great,” Aguilera added.
She agrees with the Permian students that AVID is like a family. It’s especially true in a smaller environment like Odessa Collegiate Academy.
Since she was a little girl, she’s had her heart set on going to Texas Tech University for college. Aguilera expects to earn an associate degree in general studies before she graduates high school and go on to Tech in fall 2023.
She’s planning to go the biology route right now.
“I’m not sure if I want to do my own research somebody, or for the meantime, become a teacher and spread the knowledge that I can,” Aguilera said.
