At North East ISD, you can go home again.
Heaven Gonzalez, Ana Rochaloza, Judith Sandoval and Elizabeth Villasenor are all recent graduates of MacArthur High School. All four joined the AVID program at Garner Middle School, and continue the path to MacArthur. That’s where they met Toni Rocheleau, AVID teacher at Garner, and Reagan Beres, the AVID teacher at MacArthur.
“I’m a good person because of them,” said Gonzalez. “They have molded me into a person who uses all of my energy and big feelings into something productive. AVID changed the whole trajectory of what I wanted to do with my future and what I expected for myself.”
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a college‐readiness program designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four‐year colleges.
“I was the first one in my family to really be interested in college,” said Sandoval. “When I joined AVID, it really helped me because now I know what to do and how to do it.”
For students who invest in this pathway from Garner to MacArthur, it turns into a mini family.
Most of this group spent seven years together, from sixth grade through their senior year. Now, these four are working as tutors at their former campuses. They spend time with current students – many of them bilingual or in the dual language program – and help them with their classwork while sharing their own experiences in AVID and college.
While all four of the girls can agree that AVID helped set them up for success after graduation, they also say they wouldn’t have made it without the support of Rocheleau and Beres. These two still answer phone calls, texts and emails after students graduate, because they want them to be successful. And most of all, they truly care about them.
You just can’t put a price on that kind of support.
