At Eastmont Middle School, about 100 students, adults and families teamed up for AVID Olympics, one of several family nights held during the school year. 

AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a student-readiness program designed to help students identify best strategies for learning and developing the skills they need to be successful. Amongst the skills students practice are note taking, problem-solving and collaboration. 

“We’ve really worked hard on our AVID school,” said Principal Stacy Kurtzhals about the national program that was implemented at Eastmont in 2014. “Kids nowadays need to understand how to be a student and it’s not being taught. AVID helps them in high school and they can take it into college; it gives them the skills to be successful.” λ