Dr. Rick Ramirez, a national AVID staff developer and owner of Champ U LLC, shares his journey from teaching history to becoming an AVID elective teacher and coordinator. He emphasized the importance of AVID's relational capacity and strategies in transforming students' lives. He describes some of his more impactful experiences, including being a US Marine, a boxing champion, and a guest on the Ellen Show.  Ricky is a National AVID Staff Developer and a driving force in mentoring and helping students develop the skills and mindset necessary for academic achievement, college readiness, and the pursuit of their dreams. 

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Silvana Vasquez, a former AVID student from San Gorgonio High School, shared her journey from San Bernardino to Harvard University. She joined AVID in her freshman year, and benefitted from the time management, organizational skills, and WICOR strategies that she learned in her AVID classes. Silvana's dream of attending Harvard began in fifth grade and was fueled by her AVID teachers' support. She faced challenges, including a rigorous application process with personal essays and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Silvana's acceptance to Harvard was a significant achievement, especially as the first member of her family to attend college. She plans to study Government and Pre-Law, aiming to become a politician and potentially the first female Hispanic president of the United States.

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Dr. Myrtice Salmond is new to RIMS AVID, but she's certainly not new to the AVID world. Myrtice embarked on her journey with the RIMS AVID team, about a year ago. Prior to RIMS AVID, she made significant contributions at the Orange County Department of Education where she supported AVID advanced placement and english language arts programs. Her AVID expertise comes from the fact that she really has done it all. Her career in education includes roles as an AVID tutor, AVID teacher, AVID coordinator, AVID staff developer, and assistant principal. 

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Our guest today is an incredibly popular and knowledgeable member of the RIMS AVID team. Tommy Stokes has known since sixth grade that he was going to be a teacher when Miss Finney taught him AVID stuff before there was even AVID. In seventh grade Mr. Fratt made him want to be a history teacher. And in 11th grade he met Mr. Tibbels, who helped shape him into the teacher who knew every student and their stories. He started teaching at Moreno Valley High School in 1998, where he was a baseball coach, an AVID teacher, and an AVID coordinator. 

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Tracy comes to us at SBCSS from Hemet Unified, where she was the Assistant Superintendent of educational services for six years. The 10 years before that she held all sorts of leadership roles from assistant principal to principal to Director of Professional Development. Prior to her time with Hemet Unified she was an elementary school teacher and site based instructional coach in Palm Springs Unified. Tracy brings such a passion for students and an incredible wealth of knowledge to her position. One of the things that our team first notice about her is that she has a definite love for all things AVID. The second thing we notice is that she has a pretty fantastic sense of humor. We are absolutely thrilled to have Tracy as our guest today. And we know after this episode, you will understand why the RIME AVID team is so crazy about this new addition to the county superintendents office. 

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Today's episode is a conversation with  Dr. Kari Penny, the Avid District Leader for Desert Sands Unified School District. Keri's passion for AVID and the success of all students is obvious. When given any chance at all to talk about AVID you simply cannot rein her in. Kari is the glue that keeps AVID going strong in the district, the biggest cheerleader and the driver of the AVID bus at Desert Sands.

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When we think about avid many times our first thought is secondary and the elective, but there's a whole world of avid elementary out there creating great systems and changing the lives of the littlest avid babies. One of those schools is Dr. Carreon Academy in Indio and part of desert sands Unified School District, we have the opportunity to speak with a group of their avid elementary students ranging from second to fifth grade. And we are not exaggerating when we tell you aren't going to want to miss this episode.

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We were talking about how, in the AVID world, when you talk to Avid students and former AVID students, and you ask them, you know, how did you get from where you were to where you are now, and 99.999% of the time, they say it was their AVID teacher, and that their AVID teacher was the one who made the difference their AVID teacher is the one that, you know, got them on the right path. And so we started thinking, you know, we so often ask our kids in AVID to pause and reflect, and look back on a situation on, you know, on your on your life, and just reflect on what's happening. And so we thought it'd be a great opportunity to ask our teachers to pause and reflect and think about who shaped them. Because as AVID teachers, we're the ones who, like I said, that just, you know, move heaven and earth to get our students where they need to be. And so we wanted to know, well, who was the who, who was your one who moved heaven and earth for you and shaped you into being the kind of person that fights for other people? 

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Today, we have an incredibly special treat for you. We can't talk about AVID without talking about kids, and what the AVID experience means to them. So who better to ask about how students feel about AVID than actual AVID students. Today we're talking to a fantastic group of students from Oak Hills High School.

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Speaking of AVID Rockstar, we definitely have one in the studio with us this morning. In order to have a truly successful AVID system that is district wide, you need to have some key players, you need strong avid teachers, coordinators, admin, tutors and students. But to really make it work you need a strong and passionate district liaison. In our region we have some outstanding DL's, but none more passionate about AVID than our guest today. Charlene Guerra is the powerful force behind AVID in the Ontario Montclair School District. In the six years she's been at the helm and her district, AVID has expanded and blossomed. She is so dedicated to AVID that it was actually the subject of her dissertation. We are so excited for her to share some of the brilliant strategies and support she's implemented throughout the district. Welcome to the podcast. Dr. Charlene Guerra.

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Today on The Roundtable, we're talking about what's on the menu for this year, we're gonna give you a few quick highlights, talk about upcoming workshops and trainings, and just let you know what's in store for 2022-2023. 

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Our guest today is always so much fun. He comes from AVID national demonstration school Serrano Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District, where he's been the coordinator for two years. Sam has been at Serrano since 2001. And they became a demo school in 2015. Serrano has been recognized over and over again for the outstanding things they do for their students. 

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I am honestly struggling to contain my joy today. In the world of RIMS AVID our guest today truly needs no introduction. Her official title is Program Coordinator for RIMS AVID, but to our team Tina is so much more than that. She's one of our leaders. She's an awesome AVID coach, and the reason that we all laugh all day long when we're in the office together. 

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The hosts of the RIMS AVID Roundtable continue to talk about their AVID journey.

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The hosts of the RIMS AVID Roundtable talk about their AVID journey.

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We're always looking for examples of schools that are AVID school wide. Last month, Stephanie and I were lucky enough to be invited to tour Pinion Hills Elementary School to see what school wide AVID looks like on the elementary level. We were 100% floored by what we saw. There was AVID happening everywhere, every nook and cranny on that campus you can find AVID, every classroom, every hallway, the cafeteria. Everywhere you look, there's evidence of a college going culture, and this is at an elementary school. It is truly school wide AVID. Our guest today is Shannon Avery, who is the principal at this fantastic school. And we are so excited to hear about the magic.

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Today we're talking about one of the best parts of teaching the AVID elective getting to work with some amazing college tutors. A great college tutor is an invaluable resource in the AVID classroom, and the best ones often helped shape the dynamics of not only tutorials, but the classroom culture as well. We are super excited to have one of my former college tutors Karen Lopes in the studio with us today. 

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 You can't even begin to talk about RIMS AVID without mentioning today's guest. Her official title is Program Manager for RIMS AVID, but to our team Paulina is so much more than that. Nobody has the AVID wisdom that she has. When we talk about AVID, she literally wrote the book. She created tons of the curriculum used everyday in AVID classrooms across the country, and is the lead author on AVID textbooks that are used worldwide. Before coming to RIMS AVID in 2010 Paulina was chosen district Teacher of the Year in LA County in 2001. She continued her mission of excellence after arriving at the county office. 

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During our last episode, we had a fantastic conversation with Catalina Cifuentes, the Executive Director of College and Career Readiness for Riverside County Office of Education. This episode is part two, as we continue our conversation with Catalina. 

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Our guest today is an expert in all things AVID Catalina Cifuentes was an AVID student, an AVID teacher, an AVID counselor, and is now the Executive Director of College and Career Readiness for the Riverside County Office of Education. 

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Today we're talking about AVID Elementary with the dynamic Dina Piazza-Ramsey, program coordinator for RIMS AVID. Dina has 26 years of experience as a teacher and principal at the elementary school level.

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Kelli and Stephanie introduce themselves, talk about their backgrounds and introduce the podcast.

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