Educators praise Vivian for building AVID in San Bernardino County; 2025 scholarships announced

Commenter 1, a former Colton superintendent, said Vivian began the AVID program at Colton High School in 1991 and helped it grow into a county model.

"It's difficult to pick 1 particular role that she's played. She started in 1991 as the first avid teacher in San Bernardino County," Commenter 1 said. "She took the program from its beginning to become the model program in the county, and become a state demonstration program."

Speakers said the program has since expanded across grade levels and districts in San Bernardino County. "Right now, we have AVID programs in elementary and middle school in some of the districts and, AVID programs in most of the high schools in San Bernardino County," Commenter 3 said, attributing the spread to Vivian's "passion for equality in education, making sure that these students had a equal opportunity to go to college."

Several speakers recounted the program's origins at Colton High School. One former teacher described bringing AVID to the school after observing the program during a WASC visitation in San Diego. "I had taught here already for 7, 8 years... By the time they were seniors, I'd say, oh, where are you going to college? And, oh, miss Shaw, I'm not I'm gonna go to community college. I'm not gonna go to college. So I knew we had a real need to do something like Avid," Commenter 2 said. Commenter 2 added, "Did I know what I was getting into? Had no idea. ... But it worked."

Speakers credited supportive local school leadership and families for early success. Commenter 1 named then-principal Rick DeSeneur and a strong counseling office as factors that helped establish the program: "I had a wonderful principal at the time. Rick DeSeneur was fabulous, and he supported me, and I had a great counseling office."

Multiple speakers described efforts to build scholarship support for AVID students beyond the school system. "Not only was she able to work within the educational community when they started the scholarship program with the Inland Empire Community Foundation, they started to go outside of the educational community to seek funding," Commenter 1 said. Commenter 2 said the group has just selected students for the 2025 cohort and stated, as reported in the meeting, that "we are giving a 25 28 scholarships at 1,500 each." The transcript wording is unclear on the exact count; the speakers used the phrase "25 28 scholarships."

Speakers framed the scholarships and ongoing volunteer work as part of Vivian's lasting impact. "When you think about the number of students that she's affected ... the thousands of students that went on to college ... she changed their lives," Commenter 3 said. Commenter 2 closed with a reflection on teaching as a calling: "There isn't a day that I did not enjoy going to work because to me it wasn't a job. It was a calling. It's been a great ride, great journey, and I don't regret 1 day of it."

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The remarks consisted of recollections, program history, and an announcement about scholarship recipients for the 2025 AVID cohort.