AVID provides students with college readiness, challenges, academic and emotional support, and more. One way AVID does this is by having study groups. Seniors have study groups once a week while all grade levels have study groups near the end of the semester for things such as tests, projects, and finals. This allows students to collaborate with other students, teachers, and anyone else who may be able to help.

Senior Yarelly Laguna explains how they organize the weekly study groups. “We get people who have the same classes, for example college algebra, and it’s just a group of people,” Laguna stated.

Sophomores Kendrick Harris and Amaya Daniels don’t have weekly study groups in their AVID class, but still have the opportunity to attend an AVID study group before finals on December 13th from 4:15 to 6pm in the media center after school. The study groups for all grade levels are very similar to the weekly study groups for seniors.

Harris explained what study groups look like for him. “It’s a bunch of our peers together working on the same subjects so we can can prepare for our finals and do well on them. We bring our teachers from those subjects to the study night,” Harris said.

This allows students from the same class to get together when normally they wouldn’t. Students

can then work through problems together and clear up confusion as a group rather than attempting to do a problem you don’t understand on your own.

Harris, Laguna, and Daniels stated that they think AVID study groups are very beneficial.

Daniels describes some of the benefits of study groups. “The biggest positives about study groups are that you can connect with other people. It can be students, teachers, or people who are not in your class like juniors and seniors,” Daniels explained.

Harris has a similar opinion to Daniels about the benefits of study groups but expressed the support and motivation it brings to students. “It gives everyone support to help them pass and for them to feel like they can do it. It lets them know that they are not doing it alone,” Harris explained.

Harris and Laguna also stated that the study groups have helped them with finals and tests in the past and make them feel less stressed out.

While there are a lot of positives with study groups, Daniels states how it can have faults at times. “I think a big negative is being on task. Especially if you’re with a lot of your friends because it’s hard for you to stay on task,” Daniels expressed.

Harris and Laguna stated that they don’t think there are any negatives to study groups in AVID.

Study groups are just one of the many things AVID incorporates in their teachings to prepare students for the future and help them with staying on track in school. Though different grade levels attend and follow through with study groups in different ways, they all have the same end goal of getting together and helping each other as best as possible by collaborating with others.