Alexus Ortega

10/22/19
Period:4
AVID 11

My Why?

At the end of my 8th grade year we had counselors from the high school come
out and talk to students about which were the A-G requirements and just the standard
classes we needed to graduate highschool with. I remember that I wanted to go to
college because I wanted to go out into the world and find a job that I liked in order to
support myself. After listening to counselors talk I was still confused and weeks later we
had an AVID teacher (Mrs. Brewer) come in during my band class and talk about the
AVID program. My friends and I decided that since we wanted to go to a college and we
still needed help understanding classes and what the PSAT, SAT and ACT were that
AVID would help us with that. So we went through the entire interview process and we
started AVID our freshman year. I came into AVID hoping to have the opportunity to find
a career I am interested in and helping better prepare me for college. And just as I
thought Mrs. Brewer helped teach me some of that stuff and more. She helped me
discover the type of person I am and who I want to be with, her assignments that I never
wanted to complete because they were too personal to share with the class. But this
taught me that I can be brave and become vulnerable with my class even if it means
shedding a few tears, I was still able to push through it. I knew that this was a class I
wanted to keep because of the sense of family we had and the way Mrs. Brewer set us
up to become vulnerable with ourselves and the class to find our true selves, so we
know what we would be looking for in a college. Another reason why I love this class
was because rather than my other classes we had one group of students who would
remain in the same period as the years went on and we were able to grow from
teenagers and into young- adults with Mrs. Brewer as a teacher and a role model to the
class. AVID has taught me to share and express who I am and I don’t think I would do
this on my own because I chose to listen to others and sit quietly instead of becoming a
part of the conversation as well. But things I need to do is to still find a career I would
like to pursue because as of now I’m still not sure what I would like to do, because I
tend to have one interest then lose interest because it doesn’t fascinate me anymore.
All in all, AVID is a class I’m glad I got myself into so I hope I continue to enjoy it for the
following years to come.
 Why?
My name is Alexus and I don’t know why I’m writing. I’m here because I had to
move because of transportation and my mom’s job. I’m excited to start somewhere new
and meet new people. I am sad to leave but change is good. I’m able to gain new
opportunities here and grow more as a person. I can be quiet and shy around people so
hopefully this will help me get out of my comfort zone. At Atwater my AVID class was
really small with about 16 students for our junior class. I really enjoyed AVID there
because we were very close which made discussing and working with everyone much
easier. Most of the people in my AVID class were from Winton Middle School which is
where I attended and at Winton we didn’t have AVID so we were all able to adapt and
start AVID together which made us grow closer together. One thing I struggled on in
classes was participating in debates and Socratic seminars but now that I was starting
to come out of my comfort zone, I began to participate more and socialize more in class.
Starting somewhere new might make me become quiet and shy me again just because
I don’t know anyone so it will take me some time to get used to everything I think.