Welcome to a new school year and your first year as an AVID family. We hope you are as excited as we are by the prospects that lie ahead of us. This year will be filled with hard work, exciting discoveries, personal growth, and a journey that has the possibility of transforming lives for years to come. We are here to wish you the best of luck and, more importantly, to offer our support in this significant decision you have made as a student and as a family.

If you have the opportunity to investigate AVID in its many sites throughout the country and throughout the world, you will often see it referred to as a family. Indeed, a fundamental principle of the program relies on the idea that a student’s academic experience is treated holistically, with every individual supporting the student in every aspect of the student’s learning. This means that we here at school will make ourselves aware of each student’s strengths and challenges across the academic spectrum: math teachers will know if a student is passionate about social studies, English teachers will know if a student is struggling in science, and so on. The philosophy behind our program maintains that a student who is surrounded and caring, supportive adults will invest more steadfastly in his or her own future.

To this end, it is important that AVID teachers and families form a close, working relationship. As diligently as we work with students in school, you as parents know your child best, and we welcome your input in the educational process. Concurrently, knowing what is happening in the classroom and in the program, so that you can support your child with the expectations, methods, and practices of the AVID program, yields great benefits as well. In order to foster a collaborative environment, in which all members of a student’s “support team” communicate and work together on behalf of that student, we are inviting you to join as at six workshops throughout this school year. The dates and topic of each meeting are located below. Please plan on attending these family workshops with your student.

Thursday, September 22nd 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Thursday, November 17th 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Monday, December 12th 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Thursday, February 9th 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Monday, March 26th 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Tuesday, May 29th 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Thank you, students, for your determination to make your futures as bright as possible. Thank you, families for your commitment to your students’ dreams for themselves. We look forward to working with you all.

Cottage Grove Middle School
Julie Thoms