Jaretzy Badillo is going to college.

So far, the East Union High senior who ranks No. 5 academically in her class of 340 students, has been accepted at eight colleges — five in-state and three out-of-state.

Badillo is also an effective speaker, a student leader, an active member of the EU MECHA and mariachi clubs (she plays the violin), dedicated library volunteer, and helps tutor younger students at Neil Hafley School.

She attributes her success in part to being a part of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) classes and club since her freshman year.

“It is effective,” Badillo, who serves as the AVID Club president, told Manteca Rotarians during a presentation about the program on Thursday.

How effective is it?

Chelsea Herrera, who teaches the two AVID classes at East High and serves as advisor to the AVID club that reaches students that don’t land a coveted spot in the elective class, recently held a reunion for her AVID students from two years ago.

Nineteen of the 27 former students were able to attend. And of those 19, there were 18 still in college.

As for Badillo, she entered high school determined to be the first in her family to go to college and earn a degree.

AVID, she said, not only helped her sharpen skills needed to be a better and more effective student, but it put her on track at as a freshman to leverage her high school years to not just qualify and be accepted to college but to eventually succeed.

As an example, she had little knowledge of the college application process before joining AVID.

AVID helps students starting as freshmen to keep an eye on the proverbial ball from the start and not start thinking about the process when their junior year rolls around.

She also learned practical information such as if a student qualifies for a free or reduced lunch — something roughly 60 percent of Manteca Unified’s 25,000 students do — they can access a program that covers the cost of multiple college application fees that range typically from $70 to $120 each.

That is one of the cost reasons why MUSD aggressively advocates families that meet the income parameters to apply for the free and reduce lunch program even though lunch is served free to all students.

AVID students visit in-state colleges on day trips to take tours and get a feel for the campuses.

The AVID club organizes trips to out-of-state colleges — such as a recent one to visit multiple universities in the New York City area.

It is was on that trip that Cristiano Barajas, also an East Union senior who ranks 14th academically in this year’s Lancers graduating class, discovered that New York University wasn’t a good fit for him.

That was important given NYU had been his No. 1 dream school to attend.

As such, Barajas was able to not end up making what could have been a wrong choice had he applied and been accepted at NYU.

Given “bad fits” are often a reason for college education efforts to derail or be less than opportune, the ability of AVID to help students cross off colleges is important.

It turns out other options have become more appealing to Barajas after other campus visits, especially the University of California at Davis.

Barajas wants do pursue a biology major with an emphasis on pre-med.

He said the skills he learned and has sharpened in AVID includes being able to be an effective note taker in class, an ability that takes on even more critical importance.

AVID has also helped steer Barajas into stepping up community service and involvement such as joining the Key Club, the youth service organization affiliated with Kiwanis.

The friends he developed in AVID also prompted him to try things he otherwise may not have.

As an example, it is why he added cross country to his student athlete endeavors of representing East Union in soccer and volleyball.

Besides providing students with resources to be better students and to position themselves selves to getting into college and enjoying success once they do, they learn other skills just as mentoring younger AVID students and tutoring elementary students.

Herrera also noted one of the requirements for senior AVID students is that they apply for a set number of scholarships, local and otherwise.

She added students should weigh their final choices on college heavily on the one that presents the most financial aid and/or scholarships.

“It is stressed to students they don’t want to become loaded with debt,” Herrara said.

AVID’s reputation as an academic game changer has created a situation at East Union where there are now more students that want into the program than there are seats. As a result, applicants now go through an interview process.

AVID was also part of the offerings at other high schools in the district such as Manteca and Sierra but was dropped during budget cuts 16 years ago.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com