AVID Teacher Dr. Rick Ramirez

Dr. Rick Ramirez, a national AVID staff developer and owner of Champ U LLC, shares his journey from teaching history to becoming an AVID elective teacher and coordinator. He emphasized the importance of AVID's relational capacity and strategies in transforming students' lives. He describes some of his more impactful experiences, including being a US Marine, a boxing champion, and a guest on the Ellen Show.  Ricky is a National AVID Staff Developer and a driving force in mentoring and helping students develop the skills and mindset necessary for academic achievement, college readiness, and the pursuit of their dreams. 

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Kelli, Rick Ramirez, Stephanie

Rick Ramirez  00:00

What y'all are doing is amazing, and stories need to be told. That's what we learn as we get inspiration, and that's where we get empowerment as well. So keep doing what you're doing. It matters, and it makes a big difference. Let me tell y'all

Kelli  00:12

 hey, avid family. This is Kelly Hogan flowers, 

Stephanie  00:15

and I'm Stephanie Downey from rims Avid, and

Kelli  00:17

you're listening to the rims avid Roundtable, the podcast where we discuss all things avid. Each month, on the podcast, we get together with a special guest to talk about what makes them an avid superstar. They share their ideas, best practices and strategies that they've learned along the way.

Stephanie  00:36

All right, so we are actually on location today. We are at our rims, avid 2024 site team conference out in Costa Mesa, and we are thrilled to introduce our guest to you today, Dr Rick Ramirez, who flew out from El Paso Texas to join us, began his education journey in the high school classroom, teaching us history, world history, government and economics. His dedication to student success and his ability to engage students in meaningful ways, led him to take on the role of avid elective teacher and coordinator for grades sixth through eighth at his former middle school. In this role, he became a driving force in helping students develop the skills and mindset necessary for academic achievement and college readiness. Currently, Dr Ramirez is a national avid staff developer and the owner of champ U LLC, where he works with educators nationwide to implement best practices for student success. As a John C Maxwell certified leadership trainer, he also empowers leaders to cultivate their skills needed to lead with vision, purpose and integrity. Not only is Dr Romero is a force in the world of education, he is also a three time Golden Gloves boxing champion and a US Marine veteran. His inspiring messages and passion for students even landed him a spot on the Ellen show with a deep commitment to education and leadership. Dr Ramirez continues to inspire and transform classrooms and organizations across the country. We're so thrilled to have Dr Rick Ramirez with us today to share his avid journey. Welcome to the podcast, Dr Ramirez, we're excited to learn all about what, what you're bringing to the table.

Rick Ramirez  02:04

Thank you. 

Kelli  02:05

So I just need to take a minute just to take all that in, right? That was, that was a lot, that was a lot.

Stephanie  02:11

That's rock star Avid,

Kelli  02:12

yeah, that definitely is an avid superstar. You definitely, yeah.

Rick Ramirez  02:16

Oh, y'all too kind.

Kelli  02:17

So we always start with an icebreaker question, just to kind of get us started. So we want to know, where did you go to school, and what do you have in common with your college mascot?

Rick Ramirez  02:29

College mascot, okay, I was, I was thinking it was a high school mascot. College you could do high school mascot, um, I'll do both. Okay, overachiever. Okay, I can do the math. The High School, the college is low All right, I went to urban high school in El Paso Texas. Also taught there, and our mascot is the rocket, or the urban rockets. The way that I can relate to that mascot would be, I'm ready to take off anytime. I have a lot of energy. I'm ready to shoot out like a rocket. Whenever you say, you give me the word, let's go. Let's make it happen. So go mode, as the kids say, I go to UTEP where, yeah, currently, until graduation in two weeks, I'm a UTEP minor, and I can relate to the minor because hard work, hard work, head down, mission, accomplishment, and get, get, get the job done. And that's kind of the mindset that I that I embrace with everything that I do. 

Stephanie  03:26

Awesome. I love that. So we know you have a big history with Avid. Actually found you years ago, even before I had this job on Twitter from your boxing and your avid put together. And I thought that was a really cool combination. And then I saw you last year at Site team, site team conference, that's here. We're there at national conference with Avid, and got to see you do your thing out there. And that's when I told Paulina, I was like, We need to get this guy. And it worked. I took a real big shot in the dark, and I was super excited about it, that they got them all on board, and that you were able to even come out here and make that time for us, which we super appreciate. So tell us your history with Avid, how it started and how it's going.

Rick Ramirez  04:04

Awesome, yeah. Well, first of all, thank you all for having me the treatment y'all show me the warm welcome has been much needed. Thank you, but you're Avid, so that's right. So we do it's what we do. So my history, my experience. The habit started in 2015 I was working at the high school, teaching history, but I completed my administrative internship at the middle school, same middle school I went to a week before school starts, the principal at the middle school calls me and she says, Hey, I enjoyed having you all summer. You're gonna be a great leader, but I need you on my campus. I said, Well, I'm already teaching at the high school. What do you want? How can I go back to your campus? She said, there's this program. I know it's a system, but there's this program called Avid, and I want you to come look at the the program description, if you will. And I want, I want you to run my avid pro. Program at my middle school. So I said, Miss Luna. I don't know. School starts in one week. I kind of missed the window to transfer it. It's gonna take a lot. So I believed in her, because she believed in me. So I went to the school. I read the program description, and as soon as I read anything, all the AVID any avid resources, or any avid documentation documents. I was out marketing doesn't matter. I fell in love with it. I said, Yes, I need to be here. I need to be here. So I went back to the high school, and I told the principal, hey, this job opened up. I really want to be there. And he said, Rick, we invested a lot of money into your training, because I was going to do another program called New Tech project based learning. He said, if that's where you really want to be, I'll let you go. He said, Remember, as a leader, you always let people go where they're happiest, because that's where they can make a bigger impact. So had Mr. Sharp not released me, I would have never worked for Avid or been part of the AVID program. So I transferred, went to the middle school, and I remember, a week before school started, they sent me on a bus to San Diego,

Stephanie  06:06

this bus thing, you're the second person took a bus to Summer Institute,

Rick Ramirez  06:10

sent me on a bus to San Diego, did my first training, and I started as an avid elective teacher and coordinator at the same time. Had no idea we always know what kind of challenge

Stephanie  06:21

that is. Both of those, everybody starts.

Rick Ramirez  06:24

I had no idea what I was doing, but from training day one, I said to myself, This is what I need. This is what I've been missing my career so far that the community, the relational capacity, the Avid class. But where has this been my whole life? And I ran with it ever since then, I was an avid elective teacher and coordinator at that same same middle school I went to for five years, and in 2019 I became a teacher of the year, and it was because of what I did with Avid I gave a speech, why I teach, made it to the Ellen Show, and it was all because of avid. And on the Ellen Show, I was highlighting Avid, and what avid did for me, so avid center was really happy, and I got the invite to start helping on the staff developer side after

Stephanie  07:14

that. Oh, so they found you through that.

Rick Ramirez  07:16

Yeah,

Kelli  07:18

you know, I think, I think we all do. Because I remember seeing that and saying, oh my gosh, that's an avid teacher. And it was so exciting for all of us, because, you know, avid family that runs deep. And so, you know, when you were on the Ellen Show, that was all of us. On The Ellen Show, when you were celebrated, that was all of us. So that was, that was a big deal. It really was. So first of all, shout out to Mr. Sharp for letting you go and allowing you to start your avid journey. Because I think about, you know, we always talk about how, you know, kids always say how avid changed their lives, and think about how many lives have been changed because of Mr. Sharp and his decision. So shout out to Mr. Sharp leadership that, and that's admin 101. So can you describe your current avid work? Tell us, you know, we told us a little bit about how you got here, but what is it that you're doing currently?

Rick Ramirez  08:17

I definitely currently. I every year for the past five, six years, I've been working the abbey national conference. I give a school culture session, which is where we can actually so thank you for bringing me out. By the way, I was an avid staff developer for the culture responsive teaching teaching strand for Summer Institute. But then when the pandemic hit, I barely started my doctoral program and just balancing everything the way my mind works, the way my brain is set up, I couldn't handle too much, so I let go of the Summer Institute strands, and right now, I just work national conference every year. First two years was actually alongside Patrick Briggs, the patty Briggs, so that was scary, but it was a learning experience. And Patrick has mentored me along the way ever since, and he's the reason why I keep coming back to the AVI national conference

Kelli  09:11

Wow, thank you. Yeah, we love that man, to have been part of that strand, to be a participant in that strand. Oh,

Rick Ramirez  09:17

Oh it was fireworks. Yeah. 

Kelli  09:19

Wow. That's a lot of energy in that room. 

Rick Ramirez  09:21

 Oh, yeah. 

Stephanie  09:23

So what advice would you give to a first year avid teacher like you had that experience of being the AVID elective teacher and the coordinator at the same time? You know, all difficult it could be just to be an avid teacher. And so what advice would you give them for that first year?

Rick Ramirez  09:38

First Year avid teacher? I think it's important to understand that it's okay to be lost in the sauce. At least you're in the sauce. Eventually we'll make some pasta out of it, but it's okay to be lost. It's okay to feel like maybe imposter syndrome sticks in once. All these new strategies, all these new. New, all this new terminology, the average, the average mindset, really, at first, it feels like, what am I doing in this brand new world? And I came from, I don't want to say it in a bad way, but I came from just teaching a history class, and I didn't have the AVID strategies. I didn't have the AVID empowerment. And when you go into abs, a whole new world, I know they said the first training, it's like drinking water out of a out of a

Kelli  10:21

fire hose. Yeah, it's true, and

Rick Ramirez  10:25

that's okay. And for me, I was, I was tough on myself. I was I felt like a failure. I felt like I wasn't doing enough when showing up. Period is was doing enough because the kids were the kids were buying in, and they were buying in because it works. So it's okay to feel lost, ask for help, and there's people out there who are willing and ready to help at the drop of a dime, and that's something I didn't realize. So I suffered. I suffered a lot, and I suffered that just because it was a brand new world to me. It was brand new to the district as well. So we were all kind of lost in the sauce. But I think where we fell short was we kind of secluded ourselves, and we just kind of, we're just like, in shame, almost, because we thought we were supposed to know it all

Stephanie  11:11

right, connections and and it's interesting, because that's what, when we're coaching schools, that's a big thing that we bring up. Like we run a we call it neato, and so that's new elective, avid teacher orientation, and so we bring them in for their first year, and that's one of the things we bring up, is that it the first year is hard. It's harder than your first year teaching like because it just feels so different, and you're out of your element, and you have to kind of figure out where your feet are really going to land with it. But like you said, the kids, I think, are latching on to it. I think, well, even in that first year, even if you're not getting it exactly right, the kids are with you, because you're building that family with them. And so I think it's not so much, are you hitting all of those things, but do you care about the kids? Are you building that relational capacity? And I think that's one of the best things we can do. And it's funny how everyone feels the same way about year one, because it's just, it's just so different

Kelli  12:01

it is. And for teachers especially, it's hard to not know. Know, you're used to having the answers, and then you start something new, and it's like, oh, I don't have the answers. And there's a lot at stake. You know, we're talking about the futures of other people's children, and that is a lot of pressure. And so for, you know, for our new avid teachers and our new avid coordinators, and those who are doing both at the same time and sometimes a first year teacher, first year avid elective teacher, first year court, oh, we see it all the time. You know, it is really hard not to be overwhelmed. But that reminder that there are places to go for help and not to, you know, work in that silo and hide yourself out and then think, Well, I'm just going to try and try and get through. There's no getting through, you know, you have to rely on that, on that avid family. So I'm glad that you had that 

Rick Ramirez  12:55

Trust the process. Yes, cliche to say it, but you trust the process. You'll get to a point where you where you say to yourself, I got this. I'm okay. I have a good network of people. Patrick was one of the first avid he was a director at the point right for Texas. He was one of the first avid directors. Came to my classroom, and I ventured to him. Barely met him. His personality let me feel I felt safe. And I said, Patrick, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm lost. And we had a we had this beautiful, long conversation, and that's where I learned, okay, I have to lean on those who have already been where I'm at and learn from them. And be humble myself to say it's okay to be lost. But there are people who are willing to guide you be be willing to ask, right? 

Kelli  13:39

so you've, you've done a lot in AVID so, you know the elective teacher and a coordinator and a staff developer so, and it's early because you're young, but think about it, what will be your avid legacy? You're not going anywhere right now. What will be your avid legacy?

Rick Ramirez  13:58

I think that's a good one. I think my I would like for my legacy to be a legacy left for I'm gonna go with kids. I want kids to see, to to look back, to think back 20 30, years from now and see that crazy, avid teacher that made us do all those crazy, avid class, that guy really cared. And I think the reason I got to really understand what that means to really care is because of everything that's embedded within the AVID curriculum, the WAG right? And you see these things coming up on on Fridays, right? We have the Fun Friday, and we to the kids, sometimes to the teacher. We think maybe sometimes it's just off love. But little do we know, we're really strengthening those connections. We're building those those relationships with the kids. We're establishing that relational capacity to an extent that if it wasn't for that kids like me, we get, I don't. Say left behind. Sometimes we get pushed behind, and it's something like Avid that empowers me to actually reach those kids. So I say reach them before you teach them. And avid really helped me understand what that means, what it is to reach before you teach. So my legacy would be to have kids understand that champions exist, and champions are ready to champion them on and sometimes we just need a little bit more training. But once, once that avid mindset, once that avid philosophy, is fully in place. For me, that was when I was able to really make an impact on my community with the kids. I shared some stories earlier, but I would definitely want kids to look back and say he really cared, not just on the academic side. Of course, that's important, right? But if we don't Maslow, they're not going to bloom. And once I can get them to believe in themselves, then I'll be okay, and I'll know my job is done when I get a kid and said, You know what? Because of you, I pursued route a or route B or route B because of you. I didn't give up on myself because of you. I finished high school and I chose to do something that's not college related, but I have the skills exactly to get into the to the work that I want. So

Stephanie  16:15

that's always a big theme on our shows that avid family. I think everyone brings it up. We've interviewed kids, even elementary school, high school, and that I feel like is always the biggest thing for them, is that they feel like they made that connection with their teacher, with each other, and like that pulled them through. And so I feel, I love that you're wearing our rooms avid Family Sharing right now, and that's such a big thing. And I think if I just, I don't know, just, that's what I loved the most about avid was just seeing that with my students. And I love that. That's what everyone comes back to, is that even my daughter, though she's struggling a little bit in school and next year sixth grade, and I was like, Don't you want to be an avid you got like, we got to get avid. I was like, Don't you want to be part of that avid family? She's like, yes. Like, that was the thing she gets. I've been talking about it so long, and that part, the connection she would make with other students, is what's driving her too. And so it's just such a beautiful part of avid that I just love so much. All right, so this kind of flows off of what you just said. But what does avid mean to you? If someone were to ask you, well, I guess I am right now, but if someone out in the world was asking you this, like, what does it mean to you? Like, what does avid mean to you,

Rick Ramirez  17:19

family? 100% family. And I know sometimes in this field nowadays, you can't say, oh, I see my students or my colleagues as family. We do, we do. We do. And my kids. We always call ourselves avid fam, even we met our shirts. Avid fam, uh, straight out of, straight out of AVID is what we did. And they put all their names on the back. And they had had a group of 50 kids who I got to roll with for three years, sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth graders. And it was that 50. They call themselves Mr. Rs, 50 stars. I love it on the back of that, uh, the back of their shirt. They put my favorite quote by Les Brown. Just those little things. They're listening. They're paying attention. They're learning about me. I'm learning about them. But for me, AVID is 100% family, and it's a beautiful family. Actually, it

Kelli  18:12

really is. It truly is. And you think about you know, when you said they put your favorite quote, there are things that you say and do that you don't even realize they're listening, but they are. They're listening and watching. And we talk about that relational capacity and getting to know our kids, we also have to let them know us, which is scary for a lot of folks. It really is, but that's, I think that's step one is, you know, opening yourself up to the kids and just letting them know, yes, this is a family, and I am part of that family. So that, that, I think one of my favorite things about about AVID is just those connections. And you know, when the kids come back and say, remember that time you said this? No, I don't remember, but they do, and that and that means something. I had

Rick Ramirez  19:06

a pair of girls, a pair a pair of twins, speaking of family, they again three years, three years in a row, sixth graders, seventh grade. Graders, tough on them, held them accountable, tough love. But I never forgot the love. And for me, the happiest one of my career is all family, family related, family centered. So they had asked me to be to step in as their father for the father daughter dance after quinceanera. That's family, yeah. And some, you know, some people said, Rick, but you're just a teacher. I'm just a teacher. But to them, I'm more than just a teacher, and it's, that's why I taught you, because all the time we have to understand that to those kids, those eyes, we are more than just an educator, and we have to be careful with what we projected back to them, where we can say, I could have easily said, Nope, just your teacher, yeah. And now these girls, we still keep in touch. The whole family. Grandma's grandma actually helps. She. She makes burritos, and I buy burritos from her. So we still keep in touch. The twins, they're in their early 20s. Now. They're in school. They're doing good. I still get invited to the holidays, so that's family. It is 100% and

Kelli  20:13

you're getting a little choked up, don't, yeah, don't get me started. We

Stephanie  20:17

usually have tissues, and we don't have tissues. We almost always make someone cry on this show. Just want to put that out. It's not, but we're making

Kelli  20:25

does, but it is, it because it's, it's so personal is, you know? And when you said, just a teacher, there's, there's no, just a teacher, you know, we spend more time with kids than, you know, than their parents do half the time. So I um, but again, like you said, said avid fam. So we'd like to know what's your what's your favorite avid memory, or your best avid experience, or your greatest avid success story?

Rick Ramirez  20:56

What do you got? Yeah, I'll circle back to my twins. You know when I, when I sit back and think about it, I've won awards, been celebrated, but that experience with them is the highlight, one of the happiest moments of my life, and beyond, even beyond the classroom, one of the happiest moments of my life, because I realized just how important our role Is as educators, and sometimes showing up is hard, but we still show up because we understand that the impact we make is is bigger than us. It's beyond us. So that, that moment with with those girls, I'll, I'll never say someone is just a teacher, or, even worse, when someone says, Oh, I'm just a para, I'm just a tutor. No, you as a parent or you as a as a tutor, you can reach some kids that I can't y'all can reach kids that we can as administrators, as leaders. So you're never just to them. You're more than but my happiest experience is definitely the the twins, and then when I went to the Ellen Show, that was awesome. I love Ellen, great culture at her at her workplace, and when I got to come home and have a watch party with my students, that was, I'm sure they love that. That was amazing, because they thought they were they thought their teacher was a celebrity. I said, I'm not a celebrity. I'm the same moment, but seeing them cheer for the teacher on TV and and seeing them and like start telling all their friends and throwing up all their social media, my teacher's a celebrity. That got to I'm so lucky to have this teacher just experiencing that with them. But then I remember having a heart to heart with them afterwards, right? And I told them, I told them, never let your zip code. Never let your home circumstance. Never let that define your future. It's going to be tough. It's going to be hard, but it doesn't matter where you come from. It let all that adversity lead you, let it push you to get out of this circumstance, because you're all more than capable. Every single one of those more than capable. And we had that. When I had that talk with them, a lot of the kids, we've made a vow to for our futures and what they wanted to do and to see, a lot of the kids have actually chased their passion, their dream that they said that day, Isaiah. Isaiah is the kid who told me, Mr. R I don't want to go to college. I don't need a college degree. I want to be a videographer. Isaiah, there's a college pathway for that. And he he said it was in his eighth grade year. He said, really for video? I was like, yes, digital media production. Couple years later, his mom, who was my high school counselor, she calls me, invites me to his high school graduation. He graduated top 10% and she wants me to wish him well to wish him off to college. What is he studying? Digital media. So just moments like that. There's, I mean, I have so many, I'm sure everybody does, but it's moments like that that takes it beyond the curriculum, beyond academics, that makes everything worth it, that makes everything kind of makes sense. This is why we

Kelli  24:00

and I love that you when you that your first reaction was about the kids, not about the Ellen Show, not about the accolades, but about about the kids. That speaks volumes.

Stephanie  24:12

So how have you demonstrated your Individual Determination?

Rick Ramirez  24:18

I've done it for the past four years in this doctoral program, which

Stephanie  24:23

you just got last week, right? Just finished last week. Very exciting. November 13. So we changed your bio on the thing. I think it happened. And we're like, we're adding that to it, 

Rick Ramirez  24:32

yeah so actually, I was, I was in 2015 I was still in school for my master's, and I'm in, I'm in a master's coursework, and I'm using my avid strategies, right? Your first year of avid, second year of avid, and I got through that program because I'm not the smartest person. I'm not the I struggle academic I was. I was the ideal avid student. I wasn't. I. Top of the list. I wasn't the I was right there in the middle where I had potential. I just didn't have the strategy or support. And when I got to grad school, it's a whole different a whole different monster. I use my avid strategies. And I was telling the kids, look, I'm going to practice everything we're preaching in here. I'm going to do it in grad school. I told my, y'all, have to keep a binder. Guess what? I'm gonna keep an organized binder too. I would show them. And it really helped me get through and with my with the articles, y'all peer reviewed articles are some tough reads sometimes, as we know, right? And I was showing, look, I'm marking the text. Look, I'm interacting with my Cornell notes.

Kelli  25:37

So you gotta focus. Note that.

Rick Ramirez  25:40

Yes, there we go, focus noted, and then going into my doctoral studies. Same, same mindset was, use your strategy. It sounds cliche, like I'm lying, but let me tell y'all someone like me, I need to rely on those strategies. So I had individual, individual determination the whole way through. And I persevered some way, somehow I got it done.

Kelli  26:03

So those strategies work, then yes, 100% so you talked about just now, you said you would have been probably the ideal avid student. So how do you think avid would have made a difference for you when you were in school?

Rick Ramirez  26:19

Oh, I would have done more than just the minimum what? Let me tell you, I should have I showed up school to play football, right? I should have school to play football. And a lot of my childhood experiences trauma led to me disconnecting from the academics and showing up to socialize, showing up to be a class I gave teachers. I gave teachers a rough time. I wasn't a bad student, but I was a class clown. And y'all know how you can't teach with a class clown in there. I accepted the C's right. Oh, that's a passing grade. Cool. Teachers will tell me, Rick, you're so much better than this. I'm good. I'll take the C I want to play football. That's all I needed for and then once football season's over, I dropped my pack. I had to, was it when you when you have so many appeal I had to appeal for credit for most of my classes in my senior because I stopped going to school. Football season was over, and it was just time to I'll be honest, I was doing the wrong things right, so much so that my mom kicked me off. She said, I didn't raise you that way. You got to go. So avid would have. Avid would have provided systems and supports to prevent all of that from happening. Maybe I would have gone to college first. I went to the Marine Corps first because I wasn't college material. I didn't think I was college material. So when I graduated, I thought, Okay, well, I can't do college. A lot of my cousins are gang banging. Don't want to do that. Join the military. Nothing wrong with the military. But I didn't choose it because I wanted to. I chose it because I it because I wasn't prepared. So I think avid would have really changed the trajectory of my life after high school, where I would have felt prepared to do whatever I wanted and not just settle for something that is my last resort,

Kelli  27:53

right? Yeah, the different, the difference that would have made for you. And you think about how many, you know, how many little Ricks there are out there who are in that same situation, making the same bad choices, and there's nobody to say, you know what you're better than this. And you know. And how many of us have had that student in class, you know? How many of us have been that student, but how many of us just needed someone to say, You know what, you're better, and I'm going to help you get to where you need to be. And that's that's avid right there.

Rick Ramirez  28:29

Even with the with the tutor support, a lot of my study subjects from my dissertation were former, my former avid students. And we had we talked about us, we talked about the impact of Maslow's school to prison pipeline, mentorship and social emotional learning, the impact of those four components on at risk populations. And a lot of my former avid kids, they're talking directly about their avid tutors and their the impact that these tutors made on their lives was something I wasn't even aware of. I knew that my tutors did a really good job with the kids, but it was, it wasn't until I sat down and had a real, a grown conversation with, you know, young 2223 year olds, or tell them, yeah. Well, Mr. T the way he connected with us made a that's the reason I went to class sometimes. But it was, it was first building that connection. So even everything I have tutors, having someone there for them, having someone there that can show them the way.

Stephanie  29:27

All right, finish this sentence because of avid.

Rick Ramirez  29:32

Because of avid, I learned how to teach one because of can I keep going

Stephanie  29:40

whatever you want 

Rick Ramirez  29:41

because of avid. I have an extended family because of avid, I persevered and pushed through to earn a doctorate degree. Because of avid, I became a better person because of avid. I've met some of the most empowering, the most motivating. Most inspiring people I've ever met, and they're students or former students, because of avid I'll want to have a good future.

Kelli  30:07

I want to circle back for a minute, because I just was thinking about if there was ever a point in time where you know 17 16, year old, you ever dreamed that you would be in a doctoral program? You'd be finished with a doctoral, that you would have a bachelor's, a master's and a doctorate?

Rick Ramirez  30:31

At 16 17, I could, I couldn't see past the weekend at 16 17, I couldn't there was no we grew up very poor. My mom, great Mom, I love she's, she's the reason I didn't end up in jail. But we bumped heads a lot. I thought I knew it all. And at 16 17, doing the wrong things, hanging out with, you know, the wrong crowds, there was no future. Like, I couldn't see past, literally, I really couldn't see. Well, what's gonna next month? Six months? Where'd I wanna be in five years until I couldn't see past that at all? Why bring up my mom is, you know, she would say things like breaking this family, we gang bang, we go to jail, and that's it. We're not college material. And she didn't know better, right? She didn't know better. She did what her job was to make sure we didn't end up dead or in jail, and she succeeded at that. But seeing beyond anything else there, there wasn't, there wasn't. There's no vision,

Kelli  31:31

which is just, it's hard to imagine that, but we say all the time that avid changes families and it changes communities, because once one goes to college, then you know, siblings and cousins and friends, and it's like, oh, well, shoot, if he's doing it, I can do it. And then suddenly, you know that one little that one pebble makes such a ripple. And just trying to wrap my mind around the extent of the ripple that it has made in your life and the lives of people around you is really almost overwelhming

Rick Ramirez  32:12

My brother, younger than me, he had a his academic experience was rougher than mine. Put it that way, and he saw me finish. So now he's going for his masters. Oh, and he's, he was part of my avid psych team. He taught with me. My older brother taught with me. He was part of my avid psych team. And they bought in. They bought into to everything avid. And they went out there and they they applied their strategy, they applied the AVID mindset, avid philosophy, and they went out there to make their own impact. So you're right. Little pebbles, yes, here and there, everywhere.

Kelli  32:48

hes almost, got me right. Get it together. Hold it hold it down. Hold it down

Stephanie  32:53

community piece is so huge. I mean, that's what we're hoping for, is that these kids are coming back into their communities and continuing like what you're doing you're out in El Paso, and you went back to your schools to teach, and so bringing that avid mindset even back to these communities to help them grow and help them move out of this. So there's just so much that ripple effect and that change within our communities. I see that a lot with our schools that are continuing to bring in their graduates are now tutors, and their tutors are wanting to become teachers, and they're coming back and they're getting hired at their districts and at their schools, and it's like AVID is just the ripples are everywhere that avid has made.

Kelli  33:29

Tell us about your your program, your mentoring program. 

Rick Ramirez  33:31

i have a mentoring program called champs, and it's a pro SEL based mentorship. So I contracted four schools in Las Cruces and El Paso. And I go to principals and I tell them, give me your top 20 most challenging students. I don't care if it's attendance, behavior, motive, what? Give me your Give me your top 20 little Ricks at your school. And let me tell you, these kids humble me real quick. But that's what I had to practice, what I preach. And we're making progress. Where I talked to them about the five SEL competencies from the castle framework. I don't know if you are. I don't know how what framework we use out here, but Sel is everywhere. AVID is already implementing SEL naturally, but it's when I go into there with the kids and give them, give it a name, when I help them say, You know what, when you're mad because Miss Johnson yelled at you. Why did you get mad? What was the real reason why you got mad? Well, because she disrespect she disrespected me. I look like a punk in front of my friends, I said, so you're self aware. You have that self awareness that when someone makes you look like a punk, you're gonna you're gonna explode. So now let's move into self management when you're when you're self aware that you're mad because your teacher made you look like a punk. How can you self manage? What can we do next? And then I give them strategies, stop, breathe, think, act, little, things like that. Takes a while. It takes a while, but I've had kids turn in their their vape pens. I've had kids turn in their knives. I've had kids open up about terrible things that are happening at the house, and it's not that their teacher. Can't reach them, great teachers, but when they have someone from the outside, more of the big uncle come the cool uncle that they can talk to. They don't have to see me every day like they have to see their teachers every day. Let me open up. And we've had to, you know, we've had to call services and get resources for the kids for these traumatic experiences. But I do champs, yeah, SEL based mentorship. And it's a, it's a, almost like a coaching model throughout the school year, and then at the end, we celebrate them because of avid. We did a avid taught me the We the university field trips. Okay, I did all those with Avid. So now when I do my chance program, I tell the schools I need to also, I also need a field trip to the university. But Rick, this student population, I say that, that's why I need the field trip to the university, because maybe they can see themselves at the college. Not that college is the only route, but they can't even dream about high school yet. So let's have them dream big. And we get to the college. What do they say? What normal people,

Kelli  36:01

right?

Rick Ramirez  36:02

They're wearing sweats too. Like, you know, they wear pajamas at school now. So I do that, uh, in El Paso and in Las Cruces, and it when we're tracking data from two years ago, the improvement is there. They're proven to behave. And it's not just me, it's, it's the teacher, but I'm contributing my little piece, right? So we're doing and some of the kids, they won't talk to anybody, they don't talk to anybody, but they see someone again, I see you once a week. Cool, I don't have to trauma dump on you every day. Cool, perfect. This is what's going on. And then from there, giving them the strategies to the coping strategies, the coping mechanisms, right? But yes, that's, that's a little bit of what I do now with the with the kids in in my hometown. And then whenever I travel and speak to schools, same thing. I tell the principals, look, if you're bringing me out to talk to your teachers, give me your top 20 kids as well. And I want, I want those top 20 she's like the principals, are you sure? I said, Yes, give me the top 20 kids. And we we always end it with a prompt. And it's a book, y'all, y'all, I've probably read it. I wish my teacher knew, yes, but it's the way I build it up and the way I model it, where I get them to finally open up and them teachers read those responses. Oh, well, that's why Rick right school acting fool. Yeah, that's why he's always sleeping in class, because he's sleeping on the couch.

Kelli  37:22

And I love that you refer to them as the top 20 kids, because typically, when someone says the top 20 kids, it's those overachievers that get everything anyway. You know, it's like those kids are, you know, I mean, they're still, they're still wonderful, wonderful students, but it's not difficult. That's an easy road. That's the that's the low hanging fruit. You know, it's like, oh, well, look at, look what I did with these kids. Well, yeah, but those kids would have done that on their own. Yes, show me like you said, the top your top your top 20 discipline problems, and if I can work with them now, I know something.

Rick Ramirez  37:58

That's why I chose avid so my at the middle school I was at, they wanted to pull me to do the project based learning as well. And I looked at the student population over here, and I looked at the average student population. My former principal said, Rick, we didn't know how. We didn't know anything about average. Okay. So she said, Rick, I'm gonna fill your roster with all of our at risk population. I said. I said, Jen, that's 280 kids. I'm just one man. I can't so she gave me 280 kids, right? It was about 250 kids. And then they wanted to pull me to do the project. The project based learning school within a school. When I two different populations, I said, these kids are going to be okay, great. They're going to be fine. They got great teachers. They're going to be just fine. I need the kids over here that don't want to come to school. I need the kids over here that every one else is writing them off right now. Give me that like, challenge me that because I am that kid and don't get wrong. It was humbling. It was It was humbling, and I had to learn and practice what I preach. But I could have easily chosen and even Adam said, great, but over here, you can have a lot easier. This is so easy. Parentex, I said, that's why I need to go back over here my first group of kids. I kid you not, my first group of kids reminded me of the movie Freedom Writers,

Kelli  39:18

right? Kid, you're not.

Rick Ramirez  39:21

And we watched Freedom Writers during before the Christmas break or winter break. We watched Freedom Riders as a class. We got permission from parents. We got permission from admin. And then from there, I met Erin. Grew well. She signed the Freedom Rider diary for the kid for dedicated to the AVID kids. One of her students from Freedom Riders was Dr Manny Scott.

Stephanie  39:42

He was avid. He was that avid insurance, right? That was so good. Dr

Rick Ramirez  39:46

Manny Scott and I connected. When he went to El Paso, he became a mentor of mine. I went under his training academy. We keep in touch to this day. Last year at avid national conference, we got to work out in the morning, and it's. And so Manny Scott is Dr Manny Scott is someone else who he firmly believes in the power of avid, because he reminds him of what he went through with Erin Gruwell, and that was a story that I've ever heard. When that was those and I have kids, I told them, Look, we can do you can do your your regular assignment, and then when you get it done, you can read the AVID sorry, the Freedom writers diary. They stayed past Bell reading into their entire lunch period, reading the diary. So I sent that to Manny Scott. I said, Look, you have my kids reading during lunchtime.

Stephanie  40:34

That's a pebble. Yeah, she would have had no idea she was just trying to reach those kids at that time. And now they've all kind of, you know, they're all out. They're doing everything's and he's, you know, again, that's the ripple it is. And it's led to, you to those kids. And it just kind of keeps going, and it's just just crazy. I've watched that movie before I became a teacher, and I was like, Yeah, so like, I'm gonna get these kids. And so it's just, I don't know, there's just so much kind of inspiration you get from other people are the ways that things connect that you don't even see, right? You know that lead you down different paths. For us, for our kids, for

Kelli  41:06

it's amazing. I

Rick Ramirez  41:08

don't know if y'all ever seen Erin gruwell. She is, she will, and she will stay and talk to you afterwards. And she will, there's a line out the door. She will stay until she talks to everybody and just you can feel her genuine passion and heart for it. As far as I be it's because of that movie. They became a teacher. First time I saw it was in Iraq. I was sitting in Iraq and, uh, someone sent the DVD at that time, where DVDs remember, she said they sent the DVD. I saw it. I said, That's what I want to do. I wanted, well, so I thought that's what I wanted to do. I it was a humbling first two years. Let me tell you that movie had a lot to do with why I became teaching. I

Stephanie  41:43

I'm sure seeing some of their stories may have even resonated with you and your stories and you know, and knowing that you can reach those kids, and I do, there is a lot to be said about them being able to see, like you said, see themselves in you and your story. And oh, what do you know you're from, whatever like, but you're like, No, I like, I did it. And the same thing with our kids, with the tutors that are coming back to the same way, and it's like, no, I did it, like, you can do it too, and especially if they don't have those role models at home or their families, you know, it's just they're not, they haven't gone to college, or whatever it is, and and I

Kelli  42:12

love that you talked about the tutors because, exactly because it's somebody that they can see who's like them

Stephanie  42:18

and younger, because they like to listen to tutors more than their teachers. Yeah, do. That's why we bring them to all the recruitment and all the things.

Kelli  42:24

And then when it's when it's a student who, you know, it's a tutor who went to that school, so then it's like you were literally sitting in my same seat three years ago, and now you're here, and now you're a role. And we always tell when we train our tutors, we say your biggest accomplishment is that you are a role model. And for a lot of them, it's like what it's like. You're a role model. They are watching you, and they want to see what you're doing, and they want to, they want to do that because they can see themselves in you, because, you know, you're just recently removed from their situation.

Rick Ramirez  43:01

I had, uh, five, five of my I had five tutors, the most consistent tutors when I was coordinator. So I had my brother, he became a teacher. I had Miss y, she became an elementary teacher. I had miss, uh, Miss Gutierrez, she became an elementary teacher. I had Mr. E. Mr. E is in the military, but he went on, and he knows that when he gets out, he wants to become a teacher. And then the last one, Mr. T. Mr. T is one of the tutors who was only doing it as part of his to make money during college, right? That was his college employment. He was like a, like a biochem major. So he wanted to do some crazy scientist stuff, right? Some amazing, amazing things. After being a tutor, in my passion for four years, Mr. T he changed his major to teaching, and now he's teaching math

Kelli  43:56

tutors. Come on, tutors, all five, all five,

Rick Ramirez  44:01

we have a picture, and we still talk about our avid experience. But I think the most for me, the most impactful thing was, I tell the kids all the time, look how powerful AVID is. We got a guy who was gonna go create, you know, the next, I don't know medicine that's gonna cure something, but he chose to come back and be a teacher, because he knows there's power in that as well. All

Kelli  44:22

right, so give our listeners your best piece of avid advice. So to be successful in Avid, you need to do this one thing. What's the one thing

Rick Ramirez  44:32

to be successful in Avid, you need to be humble and understand that no matter how smart you are or no matter how dumb you think you are, there's always help. There's always someone who is more experienced. There's always someone who can guide you, someone who can lead you. So to be successful in AVID is being humble enough to say, I have a network of people that I can rely on to push. To greater levels of success. And I'm not alone. I don't have to do it alone. And the moment that I think I know it all is the moment I need to stop teaching. So relying on that network and using that network to empower each other, empowering connections. I love the conference team, but relying on your networks to empower each other to reach unimaginable heights. 

Kelli  45:20

Love it. 

Stephanie  45:21

That's it for this episode of The rims avid Roundtable. I'm Stephanie and I'm Kelly. If you have questions feedback on today's episode or an idea for a future show, please tweet us @RIMSAvid, or email rimsvid@sbcss.net we'd love to hear from you and be sure to check out our website, rims avid.org, for all the latest news and events. Thank you, Dr Ramirez, for hanging out with us today and sharing your avid story. And thanks to all of you who are listening. Don't forget to follow us in your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss a single episode.

Kelli  45:52

Join us again next time for more rims avid roundtable, we'll save you a seat.