This fall, Jeanet Ugalde will attend UW-Madison on a full scholarship to study nursing. But first, she’ll be among the initial group of students receiving a diploma as part of a Madison School District program designed to give first-generation college-bound students the training to succeed in high school and post-secondary education.
“When I got the (UW acceptance) letter … I cried and I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. When I get the (tuition) bill around July and it says ‘zero,’ I will be so amazed,” Ugalde, the first person in her family to graduate from high school, said of being accepted to college.
Started three years ago at East High and now running in all four Madison high schools, AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is designed to give “students in the middle” who may be the first in their families to graduate high school and attend college the training to succeed. The correlating TOPS — Teens of Promise — program is focused on extracurricular activities, including summer work internships.