On Wednesday, the Greeley West AVID students participated in their yearly retreat, that for the first time was hosted and planned by the senior class.  While seniors had run the event in years past, this was the first year they took the time to create the breakout sessions.

The retreat was hosted by Greeley West’s neighbor, Generations Church, formerly called Greeley Wesleyan.

Their events consisted of ways to plan your future, know about college, and how to manage stress. Making balls of slime to play with for stress and making a car out of odd supplies helped the student to not only get to know each other but build on teamwork as well. There were multiple break out sessions, but students only attended three of them.

The point of the AVID retreat is to build a close connection for all the students of AVID independent of their grade level. Senior Enmanuel Rodriguez said that, “the AVID retreat helps unite all the AVID classes and makes us a stronger AVID family.

The retreat began with speaker Ivan Ildefonso an AVID graduate from the class of 2010, who spoke to the AVID classes about having no fear and choosing to focus on school while maintaining a healthy social life. Ildefonso works in the pre-trial system in Greeley while he studies for his bar exam to enter law school.

Freshman AVID teacher Mr. Colin Shaha took Ildefonso’s message to heart as, “a student and a teacher.”

Shaha said Ildefonso’s speech was a way to have “no fear and to be a positive leader.”