Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) is on its way to becoming the first four-year higher education institution to be a designated and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Campus of Distinction.
AVID is a non-profit organization that focuses on student success through professional development for teachers and staff to learn about different ways to engage students. The organization also believes in taking a holistic approach in education to ensure student success.
AVID partners with schools that teach children of every level. From elementary to college, AVID works to support students throughout their education career and beyond.
For college students, AVID encourages success at its AVID Higher Education (AHE) Institutions. This is done through various ways. “As part of their holistic offerings, AHE works with instructors and counselors on developing or strengthening first-year experience courses to help students improve their transition to campus and hone their organizational and study skills. To further increase student success, AHE also collaborates with student services to create an effective peer-to-peer Socratic tutoring approach,” AVID’s website said.
For eight years, TAMUK has been an AHE. The Center for Student Success (CfSS) has led the charge to implementing AVID at the university.
“Here at TAMUK, our Center for Student Success was built around the five components of AVID. They are: Academic Advising, professional developments, First-Year Seminar, Tutoring and Mentoring, and Co-curricular activities (this encompasses all disciplines across campus and includes study abroad and undergraduate research opportunities as well as service learning),” Dr. Stephanie De Los Santos, an AVID liaison at TAMUK said. “By using the AVID model and best practices, we at TAMUK can better prepare our students not only in college, but with their future career goals.”
One way students will have seen AVID’s presence on campus is in there freshmen seminar class. These courses are set up to help students transition from high school into college.
“The University Success Course is designed to assist freshmen with enhancing their academic skills while introducing them to campus life at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. While building professional relationships with faculty and fellow students, new freshmen will critically think, read, discuss and write about creative topics selected for the course,” TAMUK’s website said.
Along with these courses, TAMUK participates in AVID’s Student Success Initiative through the resources it provides at the CfSS. CfSS consists of Career Services, the Writing Center and the Pathways Academic Assistance Center.
TAMUK also hosts professional development workshops which TAMUK faculty and staff are invited to attend. These workshops also welcome teachers from local Independent School Districts. For education students at TAMUK, they are required to attend these workshops so they can utilize the skills taught to them through AVID in their future careers.
Currently, TAMUK is one of about 40 colleges and universities nationwide that are an AHE.
“With this recognition, we set ourselves apart from other higher education institutions in the areas of professional development, teacher preparedness and student success initiatives,” Dr. De Los Santos said.
Directors with AVID visited the TAMUK campus Nov. 14 and were walked through how AVID is implemented across the university. CfSS also hosted a poster symposium featuring the different areas on campus that are tied to AVID.
TAMUK is continuing to set itself apart by being in the final stage of becoming the first ever AVID Campus of Distinction. TAMUK has been approved to move on to the final phase of observations, which consists of AVID executives coming for a final site visit scheduled for the spring. By becoming the first four-year university as a Campus of Distinction, many opportunities for the university will come.
“If chosen, TAMUK will be visited by campuses across the nation as well as visited from ISD’s that are AVID K-12 certified. This will also be a marketing tool to recruit students, as well as a chance for TAMUK to build relationships with community colleges, four-year institutions, and K-12 schools for grant and research opportunities,” De Los Santos said.
