Guest speaker shares value of mentors to Colonial Middle School AVID class

Tom Nailor went to Providence College in Rhode Island to study English. By his senior year, he knew that writing a novel or teaching English was not what he wanted to do for a career, so he turned to his mentors for help. Those people guided him toward social work and the path he’s taking today as a therapist at the University of Pennsylvania. The value of finding mentors was the message that Mr. Nailor wanted to leave with the eighth grade students in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective at Colonial Middle School (CMS) when he visited the class in April. AVID is a program that gives students in the academic middle a chance to develop study and organizational skills and get a head start on planning for college. “I think it’s really important to find mentors who inspire you and who you can talk to openly about your hopes, fears, doubts and who can help you figure out what your next move will be,” said Mr. Nailor. “Plus, exposing kids to what’s out there and what the world might look like is a good thing to do.” Teachers recommend students for the AVID program. The students commit to AVID in a special ceremony and often remain in the program through graduation from high school. For many of the PWHS AVID graduates, they’ve been the first in their families to go to college.