Student earns free ride to college

When Michele Sievert got a ride to Calvary Church on May 2, she thought that was her luckiest break of the day.

The Costa Mesa High School senior had completed the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, program at her school, and the county was holding a recognition ceremony for graduates. Michele’s family lacked a car that night, however, and she and her mother didn’t want to take the bus to Santa Ana. Finally, the school’s librarian offered to drive them.

By the end of the evening, Michele was $8,000 richer. The Orange County Department of Education, which awards scholarships every year to AVID students, named her as one of the four winners from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District ? and the first one ever from Costa Mesa High, which expanded the program to include seniors last year.

“When they called my name, I started crying,” Michele, 17, said. “I was walking up to the stage in my high heels, and I was shaking.”

The AVID program, which Newport-Mesa adopted a decade ago, offers college preparatory courses for middle school and high school students who are struggling in class and come from low-income backgrounds. Students learn how to budget their money and plan for college, and they also partner with local universities for career training.

Money had been tight for Michele’s family in recent years, as her mother lost her job and their car was repossessed. Through her scholarship, though, she will be able to attend Concordia University and live on campus, with a little extra money for a laptop.

“Not only is it their first year to have seniors [at Costa Mesa High], but they have Michele win one of the top scholarships,” Newport-Mesa secondary education director Fred Navarro said. “It’s really good for the program.”

Every year, a number of families and foundations provide scholarship money for AVID students, with the county handing out the awards in May. This year, four Newport-Mesa students took prizes at Calvary Church: Michele, Estancia High School senior Beverly Galvan, and Newport Harbor High School seniors Carmen Saavedra and Sonia Castillo.

Sonia, 18, said one of her role models in the AVID program was Juan Vazquez, a former Newport Harbor student who last year became the first Latino student body president in the campus’ history. Vazquez, like other AVID graduates, often came back to speak to the class.

“We’re like a really big family,” Sonia said. “We watch out for each other.”

Beverly won the largest scholarship of the four, a renewable $2,500 good for four years. The Global Connect and Criminology Outreach programs at UC Irvine, she said, had influenced her during her time at Estancia. She plans to attend UC San Diego in the fall.

“It’s kind of like one less thing you have to worry about,” Beverly, 17, said. “My plans are to take care of the financial aspect of school right now, so when I get to college, that doesn’t have to be in the back of my mind.”

Her major in college, fittingly: economics.