Everyone says that AVID is like a family to them. I can understand their point of view, but that’s not what I would call AVID. To me, AVID is a guide and in some way, I guess most people can call this “guidance” part of what a family does. I don’t mind if this is what other people might think, but I feel more comfortable calling it a guide. Why? Think about it. What is a family? To me a family is a group of people who support you throughout your whole life. They take care of you, feed you, give you a place to sleep, and most of all comfort you in your times of need. You pass bad times and good times alongside these people who gave you life, and if you compare that to AVID, it just doesn’t cut it. Compared to a family, AVID only comes to being a friend. But that’s not a bad thing; in fact it’s far from it. A friend is person who you trust, who you can tell things that you couldn’t tell to your family. A friend can understand you better than a family ever could; at least this is how I feel at times. And yet, I couldn’t call it a friend either. Why? Because friends don’t always lead you to do what is right. I could call AVID a best friend, but even though a true best friend would never lead you down the wrong path, they still might not know how to get to the good one.

This leads me back to my earlier thought: that to me AVID can only be called a guide. No matter how much you know or how much you do, if you don’t know how to apply it all to life, it does you no good. What I mean is that even if I take all these honors classes and pass them all with high grades, I won’t be able to go to college if I don’t know what to do to get there. I need to send in applications, take tests, and so many other things before I ever step foot into my college life. Knowing this, I could honestly say that without AVID, half the things that I have done to get to college would never have gotten done without their help. This is the reason why I stay in AVID. It opens doors that seem so easy to open, until you try to open them yourself. For example, I never knew that you needed community service hours in order for colleges to consider you. No one else, no other teacher for that matter, has ever told me that in my two years of high school.