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The Impact of AVID

Building Bridges to a Brighter Future

By UNC Asheville

March 18^th, 2021

The following stories highlight the experiences of those impacted by the AVID for Higher Education Scholarship. Thanks to your support, the stories below illustrate what is possible when we build bridges to a brighter future.

Kim Kessaris - Administrator

The AVID for Higher Education Scholarship Program is approaching the end of its 22nd year partnering with Asheville City Schools (ACS) to provide college access for underrepresented students. It all started in the late 1990s when Dwight Mullen and Dolly Mullen, two beloved UNC Asheville professors, were researching racial disparities in the Asheville City Schools. Kim Kessaris, UNC Asheville’s AVID Tutoring Coordinator, joined the Department of Education in 1999 when ACS had entered its first year of AVID implementation. “During the summer of 1999, Dr. Pam Cocke invited me to a meeting at Asheville Middle School and asked if we would be interested in working with this new program called AVID,” Kessaris said. “I said, yes, and then realized that I had a lot to learn!”

Asheville City Schools' first cohort of AVID students graduated from Asheville High School in May of 2004. “Over the years, we have worked with the best AVID teachers,” Kessaris recalled. “AVID students are where they are because of the dedication of teachers like Barbara Groome ’82, Amy Sheeler, Susan Wilson ’93, Marvin Smith, Chelsea Barolet, and Amy Wiesner, along with Jerome Hughes, of course!”

During the early years, AVID was connected with the Legislative College Opportunity Grant (LCOG), which provided state funding for first generation college students. Asheville’s own CeCe Hue and Kendra Danner were among the first AVID students to receive this grant and to graduate from UNC Asheville, but after the LCOG was discontinued, UNC Asheville no longer had a scholarship program to connect with the AVID partnership. In the meantime, the ACS AVID program continued to grow. Between 2010-2019, ACS graduated between 27-30 AVID students each year, and more than 80% of graduates enrolled in college. That is a higher percentage than the national average which in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, average college enrollment for high school students was 74% for young women and 62% for young men. These figures were even lower for students of color.

Jerome Hughes, ACS Teacher and AVID Coordinator says, “AVID's success depends on the resiliency and determination of the AVID students, the rigor of the AVID curriculum, and the strength of the family and community partnerships which support the students.” Over the past 22 years, AVID at Asheville City Schools' most consistent partner has been UNC Asheville. “The AVID program breaks down barriers to success, builds bridges to a brighter future, and bolsters students as they pursue their college dreams.” says Hughes.

Through the engaged commitment of Sallie Broach, recently retired from UNCA's advancement team, the generous and consistent gifts of several key donors, and the diligent work of the AVID Scholarship committee, UNC Asheville has been able bridge the gap in funding previously provided by the LCOG. “The AVID program has had a transformational impact on both Asheville City Schools and UNC Asheville students” said Kessaris. “Many AVID alumni are now teachers, counselors, and administrators who previously served as tutors and mentors. It had long been a dream of ours to extend our middle and high school AVID partnership with UNC Asheville to support students as they matriculate to college.”

Sophia Rutherford - Senior ’21

“I left everything I knew, all of my best friends, everything to be an out of district student at Asheville High. My first day at Asheville High my new counselor recommended that I apply to be an AVID Scholar.”

Meet Sophia Rutherford - a senior at UNC Asheville and a full four-year AVID Scholarship student. Rutherford was born and raised in Asheville and attended both AC Reynolds Middle School and High School. It doesn’t take long to realize Rutherford is a force to be reckoned with - an incredibly hard worker with confidence in her abilities. She knows her true potential and will do whatever it takes to reach it. That potential was challenged in the middle of her high school career. After a proven track record of making above average grades, Rutherford wanted to take higher level courses. As a person of color, Rutherford couldn’t help but notice the disparity in Black and Brown students being recommended standard classes while her white peers were offered more AP and Honors courses. She was ultimately not granted the opportunity to challenge herself in higher level classes, and took matters into her own hands. Rutherford left everything she knew, and transferred to Asheville High School. On her first day she interviewed to be an AVID Scholar.

Rutherford had no idea how transformative that decision would be at the time, but said, “I met all of my new best friends and favorite teachers being an AVID student.” And beyond that, Asheville High gave her a warm welcome, she saw people of color in leadership roles, she felt empowered, and was granted more opportunity. “I had never felt this much access,” she said.

College was always in the cards for Rutherford, although she didn’t know much about the process of applying or selecting the right school for her.

“AVID prepared me thoroughly for how to apply, how to make my decision on what schools, comparing financial packages, and how to be a good student,” she said.

She was familiar with UNC Asheville having participated in Girls on the Run, a program that works to encourage the development of self-respect and healthy lifestyles in pre-teen girls, which met on UNC Asheville’s campus. She received several other scholarships but the AVID Scholarship she was offered at UNC Asheville was the most significant. “After receiving the scholarship all four years, I am extremely grateful for the financial support and freedom that this has granted me as an adult,” Rutherford said.

At UNC Asheville Rutherford gives back to the program that granted her so much opportunity. She served as an AVID tutor for multiple semesters. “I enjoyed it a lot,” she said. “It is a completely different experience being a tutor. If I was not at UNCA I would not have gained that experience.”

Now, as a senior Rutherford is looking forward. She is exploring graduate schools and MBA programs, preferably at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). “I would like to own my own business one day,” Rutherford said. “I have interest in law, real estate, and fashion so any of those realms would be something I may explore.”

Maia Norby - Freshman ’24

Maia Norby moved around a lot in high school. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she spent half of high school in Asheville, and the other half in Vancouver, Washington. Norby was a self proclaimed introvert, “In high school, I was pretty quiet and kept to myself. I was more focused on art and school assignments than socializing so I really just kept to myself,” she says.

Moving in the middle of high school did not make the college search easy. Norby was worried, she remembered being nervous “about the cost of college for the most part. It's just so overwhelming that we could go into so much debt at such a young age.”

Ultimately she chose UNC Asheville because it felt familiar, and it would give her the opportunity to study art. “I love a ton of types of art,” Norby says, “I love doing traditional art such as watercolor and charcoal drawing but I also love animation.” Norby learned about the AVID Scholarship in high school and was so relieved to hear about the opportunity to be fully supported in college. As a four-year recipient of the AVID Scholarship, Norby says, “I have been less worried about the cost of college and am so grateful to know that even if I don't receive any other scholarships I have AVID.”

I have liked my experience at UNCA so far a lot, says Norby, “I love my roommate and I love my classes. I am very happy to be able to expand my knowledge of what I want to do as a profession.” As a freshman, the adjustment during COVID has not been easy for Norby. She hasn't joined many clubs or extracurriculars, “It’s been hard to connect with people and find out what's happening at school because of COVID.” Even though Maia has a hard time seeing beyond the pandemic, she remains optimistic, “it’s hard to think about the future right now, but I’m really focused on just getting through my first year.”

Maia is already showing promise as an artist, she wants to specifically do 3D animation, but has become more interested in 2D animation and video game design. “I just fell in love with 3D animation because of how fun it is and because of its use in modern video games,” says Norby.

You can see some of her work below: an animation logo project for one of her classes.

Thank You from Kim Kessaris

Thanks to private philanthropy UNC Asheville has offered 4-year scholarships to 10 Asheville City AVID alumni. AVID has become an invaluable partnership between the two institutions, and the support of donors has been fundamental to this effort. Thanks to your incredible support, we are proud to offer our young AVID scholars the dream of graduating from UNC Asheville!

Kim Kessaris

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