100% Of LEUSD's AVID Class Of 2013 Going On To College

They streamed into the Lake Elsinore Unified School District board room Thursday night -- several hundred seniors from all three of the district's high schools.

All of them AVID students, and all of them are going on to college.

According to Lorie Reitz, the LEUSD's director of curriculum and instruction, 97 percent of the students are graduating to four-year universities, while the remaining 3 percent will go on to two-year institutions.

"That's 100 percent," she said of the 245 students.

"College wasn't even on my radar," one LEUSD senior said. Another student said the familiar, "I just thought college was for rich kids."

But LEUSD teachers, who recognized potential in the students, stepped in. The AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) college preparatory program is designed to ensure that all students, especially the least served students in the middle of the academic achievement spectrum, advance.

UC Berkeley, Notre Dame, UC Riverside, UC San Diego  -- those are just some of the higher learning institutions the students will be attending. Admissions fees are being covered by grants, scholarships and student loans, Reitz said.

"Mostly grants and scholarships," she added.

Thursday's event recognized the students during the LEUSD's regularly scheduled governing board meeting.