Luckily, it didn't take much to persuade my old students to speak in my class when they were back home in Vegas for Christmas break. The offer of Sonic, or carmel rice crispie treats, is usually enough to persuade high school students to do almost anything. (I've trained them well, I know.)
Jose, always responsible, was the only person who made it on time. (Way to go, Jose!) Zach was driving Boo and Crystal, so they showed up around 45 minutes late. Thankfully, Jose has such an awesome life story, he was able to completely captivate my entire sophomore class for over an hour. Jose's family moved to the U.S. from Mexico almost 5 years ago. As a 9th grader, Jose was bussed to a predominantly white high school, where he was forced to learn English quickly. Jose spent all summer at a public library, teaching himself the language. He joined AVID as a junior because some of his friends on the soccer team told him it would help him get to college. Jose is the student he wrote such an amazing college admissions essay, it was passed around the entire office. He graduated as salutatorian, with a 4.6 weighted GPA, and received the Gates Millennium Scholarship that will pay not only for his undergrad, but also his Masters and Ph.D. He received a $40,000 scholarship to the University of San Diego, where he is now studying Biology, Spanish, and Italian.
I've told my class about Boo a.k.a. Vegas before. She's had all kinds of crazy experiences since she's been in school. From missing her train back to Jeff City and nearly having to sleep in the train station overnight to finding a girl passed out on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, Boo has seen and suffered through a lot. She's barely scraping by each semester, but she's doing it. She really is. She may not love MissourAH and the university isn't very well organized, but she likes her classes. We've had some great conversations about some of the things she's been learning. Thankfully, she didn't show pics from the TOGA PARTY.
Crystal, Miss AVID 2007, told about her experiences at UNR. I visited Reno for a day (that turned into a LONG NIGHT stranded at an airport) at the end of October and saw her cruise all around the campus like she knew exactly what she was doing. All grown up. :) Her school is completely free. Millenium and GEAR UP scholarships, plus financial aid. Now, young Miss Chris G. Lo Kill-AH gets a little bonus check $$ each semester.
So, Zac Moe talked about Hampton and gave us the perspective of HBCUs. Zach's hysterical and makes friends easily, so he's definitely had fun at Hampton. He's also gone to school, when he hasn't been too busy hanging out in the student center making new friends... The best piece of advice he gave was this:
"College isn't about being smart. It's about being responsible."Genius! Zac Moe giving some serious, real advice and not once did he mention "dead AVID homes". He talked about a lot of pool parties, of course, and girls and girls and girls. He also passed a hat around and collected $9.00 in gas money from my junior class. And he told quite a few stories about all of the fine girls in college. (Apparently girls outnumber guys at Hampton 17:1). And he also happened to mention a late night study session in the library that turned into a dance party, but other than that, I think things went okay and no young minds were terribly corrupted.
All four of these kids will be the first person in their family to graduate from college. It's still a ways off, yes. First semester of freshmen year has just ended, but it's all so exciting. Each one seemed a little more confident and mature. I can't wait to see them at their college graduations. :) I was pretty proud. (So proud, in fact, that the tutors said I was "glowing like a mom". I'm sure that's supposed to be a good thing... Right?)
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