Greenwich Alliance AVID Transition to College Program: “They prepare you so well!”

This summer the Greenwich Alliance for Education is in the midst of their second  Transition to College, “T2C,” workshop series for AVID students.

AVID, short for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a college-readiness system designed to close the achievement gap and promote equity and access in education.

The six part series was designed to ensure that AVID students – typically the first generation in their families to attend college – develop the skills, strategies and knowledge to persist and succeed from freshman year to sophomore year and beyond.

The workshop on Wednesday was titled, “College Culture: Drugs and Alcohol on Campus.”

The focus was on alcohol, cannabis and illegal use of prescription drugs – with extra caution about the possible presence of Fentanyl in a variety of drugs.

The panel was led by experts, but also included the return of GHS AVID graduates including Dina Quevedo, Dafina Bajra and Lauren Ferreira, who shared their real life experiences on campus from this past year with the younger AVID students during a confidential portion of the session.

Ingrid Gillespie, director of prevention at Liberation Programs, gave an overview of some of the main drugs present on college campuses.

“Alcohol still continues to the the number one drug, although we’re seeing more young people drink less and less,” Gillespie said. “But we’re also seeing cannabis use go up – marijuana. And we also want to emphasize illegal prescription drugs including Fentanyl.”

Gillespie said alcohol’s initial effect is to increase dopamine.

“It makes you happy, but the way it really impacts is around depression – that’s why we shouldn’t drink alcohol with other medications.”

“But at the college level, it’s not common for people to have just an occasional drink,” she said.

Holding up a red 16 oz Solo cup, Gillespie talked about binge drinking. At the college level, with hard liquor consumed from a large plastic cup, a young person may be drinking four to five times more than a standard hard-alcohol drink.

Also, she noted the age to legally consume marijuana in Connecticut was 21.

“Marijuana is a hallucinogen, and acts as both a stimulant and a depressant, it can have both effects. There is a chemical that comes with marijuana, cannabinoids, that we produce naturally. So when somebody takes in marijuana and these cannabinoids – the most popular are THC and CBD – the brain is overloaded. That’s where you get these various effects. It can be anything from feeling panic, feeling your motor control is out of whack, to having the munchies.”

As for taking prescription drugs without a prescription, including Adderall, Xanax and Oxycontin, Gillespie warned of numerous dangers.

“You’re taking a risk if it’s not prescribed to you, but you’re also taking a risk that it’s counterfeit because now, one in five of those counterfeit pills has Fentanyl in it.”

“It only takes a ‘pencil tip amount’ to kill you,” she warned. “There’s a huge added risk if someone says, ‘Here, try this.'”

Gillespie added that the chances of having a stronger effect or likelihood of becoming addicted stem from physiology.

“Your reaction to any of these drugs – it doesn’t matter what drug you’re taking – is much stronger while your brain is still developing. The brain isn’t fully developed until 25.”

In addition to prescription drugs Gillespie said Fentanyl is sometimes found in cannabis as well as cocaine.

“It’s showing up in so many places, and it’s such a dangerous drug.”

The Faces of AVID

The AVID alumna who returned to help with the workshop were all so grateful to AVID, for multiple reasons.

Dafina Bajra said she got into Rice through a Questbrige scholarship she learned about from AVID.

“It essentially got me a full ride – and then some,” she said. “Without AVID, the college process is super long, and I’m a first generation college student. Without the support system from AVID and Greenwich High School I wouldn’t have been able to get into college.”

“I had a great year,” she said with a wide smile.

Lauren Ferreira said, “If it wasn’t for AVID I wouldn’t have had a chance at knowing what I wanted to do future-wise, work-wise, professional-wise. And also it helped me a lot to prepare for scholarships.”

Lauren said she though she did not apply through Questbridge, through AVID she applied for numerous scholarships that she learned about through AVID, as well as ones she looked for herself.

“I also have a full ride – and then some. They prepare you so well,” Lauren added. “My parents are originally from Brazil and don’t speak English. They don’t even know how the process works. AVID was like our parents.”

The girls raved over AVID teachers, Marybeth Lui and Megan Ostruzka.

The girls said not only did AVID teach them how to advocate for themselves and conduct their own research, but that they felt prepared for their first year of college.

Other workshops in the T2C series include the, “Blueprint for College Success” session led led by Trish Rohr and Stephanie Rogan; “Digital Resources on Campus” led by Trish Rohr and Lisa Dempsey; Budgeting and Finances in College led by First Bank of Greenwich; and Academic Success in College and Celebration led by Trish Rohr and Bob DeAngelo.

T2C is made possible by a grant from the Greenwich United Way and Greenwich Dept of Human Services, YMCA Greenwich and by Alliance donors.

Greenwich Alliance for Education brought AVID to the Greenwich Public Schools in 2008. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is an internationally recognized college-readiness system designed to close the achievement gap and promote equity and access in education.  Greenwich Alliance AVID SUCCESS initiatives focus on helping AVID students and alumni achieve college and career success by providing essential extensions to the Greenwich Public School AVID program including scholarships, mentoring & coaching, jobs an professional skills and more.