Preparing, applying, and touring colleges, being able to find the time to get it all done can be daunting to most. The AVID program helps lower the stress of juggling all of this by enabling students the opportunity to go on field trips and visit colleges.

On Nov. 20, six senior AVID students went on one of these trips to explore colleges outside of Arizona. They traveled to Los Angeles, California and visited the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) as well as the University of Southern California (USC).

AVID teacher Adam Schiermyer stated the reasoning behind the trip to California was “to try and get a broader perspective on what it is like outside of Arizona [as well as to] see what it would be like for the kids to be away from home.”

They started off preparing for the trip, which enables students to have the chance to look at schools they may not have been able to go to with their family, on Oct. 21 through a fundraiser at the Chipotle at Gilbert Town Square.

“We learned a lot about all of the colleges and the differences between Arizona and California,” senior and AVID President Kennedy Mesenbrink said, “I like UCLA way better.”

In fact, there was a general consensus among the AVID students agreeing that UCLA was their favorite to visit. .

Senior AVID student Jade Byron stated one of the reasons she enjoyed visiting UCLA more,“our tour guide went in depth about what was going on in the school and how they were leading in a lot of their careers and majors. I thought that was very interesting.”

The six students also had the opportunity to have some fun on their trip by going to Universal Studios and Santa Monica pier before returning to Arizona on Nov. 22.

“We went on the Mummy twice because we had some fast passes so it was easier for us to go,” said Byron, “and we [went] on the Transformer ride and that was awesome.”

For senior AVID student Tyler Jensen one of the best parts of the trip had to do with getting to “just [hang] out as a family” with the rest of the students in the AVID program.