AVID Monthly Newsletter

October was a wonderful month for us! We were able to visit the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. One of our very own AVID students (Jose Luna-Espinosa) was highlighted in the AISD AVID District newsletter and was also our AVID student of the month for September. We also planned for Blue and Gold Night and had many of our students volunteer their time for this event. We will visit Texas State University on November 6. Our Seniors are working hard on their college applications and FAFSA.

Mrs. Jenschke's Foresnic Science classes have been rocking AVID strategies! Her students use interactive notebooks, Cornell Notes, Quickwrites and One-Pagers. See below for Jenschke's Cornell Notes Wall.

Miranda Rodriguez: Texas State University

Jennifer Zamora Morales: University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Jose was selected as the Akins High School AVID student of the month and profiled in the Austin ISD AVID newsletter.

Akins Student of the Month by Grade Level:

9th: Terriana Washington

9th ECHS: Andres Rodriguez

10th: Edan Tapia

11th: Lana Lam

12th: Jose Luna-Espinosa

Chan Lian, Gaby Oliva and Edan Tapia, AVID 2 students, helped make Parent Conference day a success! They helped greet and assist parents as they entered the building.

Our AVID strategy of the month is Philosophical Chairs. It's an engaging way to get students to think critically about a topic and discuss with fellow students using academic language. Students have to take a side: Pro, Con or Neutral. If someone sways a student's thinking and they change their mind on the issue, they are able to switch sides. Please see our AVID Blend page for more information.

We hold monthly Site Team meetings. If you are interested in helping us incorporate more AVID strategies throughout Akins and want to help support the AVID team, please join our Site Team. Our next meeting is November 13 at 7:45 am in room 169.

Susan Thames: Assistant Principal (New Tech)

Margarita Moreno: Counselor (Green Tech)

Sarah Nickel: Counselor (AHA)

Melinda Van Horn: Counselor (ABLLE)

Lora Alaniz: CTE teacher (AHA)

Elisha Aldana: Math teacher (ECHS)

Melissa Contreras: Social Studies teacher and ABLLE Academy Coordinator (ABLLE)

Katie Delmore: Social Studies teacher (Green Tech)

Christina Dost: Math teacher and STEM Academy Coordinator (STEM)

Aimee Finney: Debate and AVID 1 (AHA)

Aleisha Forde: ECHS AVID 1 (ECHS)

Christina Garcia-Mata: AVID 3 and AVID 4; Green Tech Academy Coordinator (Green Tech)

Teresa Grumbles: AVID 1 and AVID 2 (ABLLE)

Annette Gutierrez: College and Career Counselor

Christina Jenschke: Science teacher (ABLLE)

Paty Martinez: SEL, AVID 1, AVID 3 and Basketball (Social Services)

Rebecca Redland-Sturzl: English teacher (Green Tech)

Loraine Tijerina: CTE and SEL teacher (Social Services)

Throughout the year, we will be posting AVID strategies on our BLEND page. Make sure that you join so you can stay up to date. We look forward to working with all of you this year to help our Eagles Soar! Click here to join our Blend course.