PHHS AVID California Colleges Road Trip

San Diego, CA

Grant Amount

$20,000

Year Awarded

2025-2026

Project Coordinator

Patrick Schoettler

Grant Type

Team

Local Association

San Diego Education Association

Focus Area

Civic Engagement and Community Leadership

About the Project

This project supports a week-long college tour for AVID juniors at Patrick Henry High School who are primarily first-generation, low-income students with limited access to college visits. While many peers can explore universities with family support, these students face barriers that make the college application process more abstract and daunting. The trip will include visits to twelve UC and CSU campuses to help students visualize and plan for their futures, develop confidence, and shift their aspirations. The experience is designed to reduce inequality by offering a formative college exposure opportunity. It will also strengthen student advocacy, school-family connections, and interest in the AVID program across the campus, with long-term goals of expanding AVID enrollment and increasing equity in postsecondary outcomes.

Meet the Project Coordinator

Patrick Schoettler

Patrick Schoettler is an AVID and History teacher at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, California. He is in his seventeenth year as a classroom teacher, the last eight being at Patrick Henry High School and previously taught at Millennial Tech Middle School. While at Millennial Tech, Patrick served as the SDEA Site Representative for four school years that also included four years on the SDEA Contract Bargaining Team. During his time at Millennial Tech, Patrick also helped form the MTM Site Governance Team and founded the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, even getting contract language in the SDEA/SDUSD collective bargaining agreement around home visits. Currently, Patrick is a dedicated AVID teacher, working to make the dream of attending a 4-year college or university a reality for his AVID students.

San Diego, CA