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# Working hard pays off for students
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/working-hard-pays-off-for-students/
- Published: 2004-06-10T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:31:42.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

A Santa Monica High School student is guaranteed a ticket into college, thanks to a government-sponsored program.

Senior Salomae Kpohanu was one of more than 750 students that were chosen by the Los Angeles County Office of Education Advancement Individual Determination (AVID). The students recently celebrated their acceptance into college based on the skills they developed from the AVID program.

Kpohanu has been participating in AVID for four years. She will attend Mount St. Mary’s College and major in psychology.

“AVID is not only a place to provide me with confidence as I enter college,” she said. “AVID is a place where I know I am free to be myself without fear that someone will misjudge me.”

AVID is a middle school through senior high school academic program, dedicated to helping students who are academically “in the middle,” and who have the potential for success in college preparatory curriculum. AVID students are enrolled in the most rigorous curriculum a school can offer, and motivated to complete a college preparatory path, such as the University of California A through G requirements. AVID students receive support for success in the rigorous curriculum through the AVID elective class, a regularly scheduled elective within the normal school day.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 10, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)