October 9, 2007

A college prep program targets youths who may otherwise fall into 'middle'

By Lisa McKinnon

Antonio Ortiz knows what it's like to be the first person in the family to get an acceptance letter from a four-year university. He also knows how to tutor high school students on the laws — and diagrams — of physics by using his translucent red plastic bank card as a straight edge.

"You use whatever tools you have to get the job done," Ortiz said with a laugh.

The same could be said of his approach both to getting into college and helping others do the same.

A 2004 graduate of Ventura High School, Ortiz returns to the campus from 7 to 11 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to pass along what he knows to students gathered in a modular classroom near the school's tennis courts. Sometimes, he is called on to help the college-bound students with prickly physics problems. Others, Ortiz finds himself answering questions of a more personal nature.

"They want to know what it's really like out there in the real world after high school," he said.

Ortiz, 21, is separated from the teens by a few formative years and his status as a graduate. But he has in common with them a college prep program that targets students who might otherwise fall into the academic "middle," who come from minority or low-income backgrounds and/or who may be the first in their families to attend college.

Called AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, the program was started in 1980 by an English teacher at a high school in San Diego and now serves nearly 300,000 students in 15 countries and 45 states. It came to the Ventura Unified School District about a decade ago, said English and French teacher Terri Schroeder, who with math teacher Linda Southwick also oversees classes, projects and deadlines for the more than 50 AVID students at Ventura High.

AVID also is in place at selected high schools in Oxnard and the Conejo Valley. But in Ventura, the program starts even earlier: Ortiz remembers joining when he was in the eighth grade at Cabrillo Middle School, signing a contract with his parents and program organizers in order to do so. Now each of his three younger siblings is involved, too.

"There is a lot of competition; you won't make it without an education," said Onofre Banderas Jr., 17, a Ventura senior who signed up for AVID when he was in the seventh grade at DeAnza Middle School. He already has some Ventura College credits under his belt and hopes to study business at a university such as Pepperdine in the future.

On a recent morning, Banderas spent part of the AVID session filling out what he laughingly called a "brag sheet." Known more officially as a "résumé worksheet for college/scholarship application," the form also helps students obtain personalized — and more effective — letters of recommendation from teachers by organizing accomplishments in an at-a-glance format. Banderas' brag sheet includes duties as vice president of the Interact Club and experiences with Montana Yellowstone Expeditions, a leadership program set in the outdoors.

Sitting in a circle of desks with Banderas were fellow seniors Courtney Berg, 17, who was reading a chapter on cells in a text titled "Human Anatomy & Physiology"; Melissa Arellano, 17, who was studying calculus with AVID tutor and Ventura High graduate Janeth Moran, 18; and Sophie Ramos, 16, whose trigonometry textbook was open to a chapter on radian measures — "the gnarly stuff," she said. By this time next year, said Ramos, she hopes to be at a university that offers a good pre-med program.

"I'll be the first person in my family to attend a four-year college," she added. "I'm happy to start that tradition."

But creating all of those college applications and preparing for the taking of SAT and AP tests requires money. So does paying tutors like Ortiz and Moran.

In the past, costs have been met, barely, by carwashes, wrapping-paper sales drives and other fundraisers manned by the AVID students themselves. On Saturday, the Ventura High program also will benefit from an event taking place at the Old Creek Ranch in Oak View, where festivities will include a barbecue dinner, a silent auction and music by the Ventura High jazz band.

Ranch owners John and Carmel Whitman count many teachers among their group of friends, and last year they employed two Ventura High students — Emma Tredeau and Stephanie Miranda — who were in the AVID program. When the young women departed late this summer for Humboldt State University and CSU Fullerton, respectively, the ranch was the setting for their dual going-away-to-college shower of gifts, which included dorm-room sheet sets.

Ortiz has yet to "go away" to college, because the money wasn't there for him to immediately accept his college-acceptance letter. He instead enrolled at Ventura College, and plans to transfer to the UC Santa Barbara next fall. His goal: to become a chemical engineer.

In the meantime, he has learned from being a tutor.

"Staying connected with high school students keeps me motivated," Ortiz said. "College is all study, study, study. It's good to be around people who remind you of your goal, who keep that idea fresh."