The magic of the Fab Five (or Twenty)

Why you should hang out with the Fab Five (or Twenty)

According to motivational speaker Jim Rohn who has spent a lifetime helping people build businesses and inspiring others to reach higher you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. It does makes sense when you think about it in terms of cliques in high school, the jocks and cheerleaders in comparison to the drama club or chess team, it’s not that these groups exist solely outside of one another or that there is no inter-group mingling but birds of a feather do tend to flock together.

AVID which stands for “Advancement Via Individual Determination” was started in 1980 but the head of an English department in San Diego, Mary Catherine Swanson. AVID was initially begun to help the underserved students of color who were integrating into a competitive school from school systems which were not as well-structured or effective. It has continued to grow and serve at risk students who showed promise in some area of academics but may have had trouble in others, like math or reading. The goal being to serve underprivileged or underserved students and help them achieve acceptance to a four year university and beyond. They achieve this by carving out time in the student’s day to devote solely to AVID activities. The main idea of the program is to empower students through advanced learning techniques, additional tutoring and fostering a love of learning.

When I was in high school I was moved into the A.V.I.D. program, it was a college preparatory elective that was more than just a study hall. AVID was a place where all those previously mentions groups, the jocks, the cheerleaders, drama club queens and even computer enthusiasts were not only welcome but supported in their endeavors both inside and outside the classroom, it was a place where people believed in you and your dreams. It was in this program that I learned my love of writing, where people encouraged me to read articles that reached beyond my tiny world of shopping malls and Slurpee’s. My instructor would bring in National Geographic, Vogue and Time magazine and I would devour every word, yearning to get out there, into the thick of it; the real world.

A time and place that made it okay to be excited about something, instead of relying on the adolescent apathy which had become the fall back for so many of us, and the feeling was catching! One person would tell us about her dream to become a dancer, so the rest of us brought in pictures, videos and even advertisements for dance schools that offered free lessons for a time. It was a group that was filled with positive, caring individuals who all had their own idea of success and wanted to see everyone around them get there too.

I don’t know if she ever became a dancer or if anyone in our AVID group ever made it to their final destinations. What I can be sure of is that there are twenty other people cheering them on, no matter where they are in their journey, how far they’ve come or how far they’ve yet to go; we are behind them. Everyone should have their Fab Five, those people who help you build the ladder to your cloud nine, or at least help you find the directions.

Until next time my lovlies,

CGINTW