AVID students meet at Glen Burnie High for conference | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

They listened to words of inspiration from student speakers and guest speakers including Dr. Kevin Maxwell, county schools superintendent, and Larry Denton, a Glen Burnie grad who went on to the Naval Academy.

"We try to give students opportunities to do planning and to receive recognition. It's what AVID really is about, achieving your potential," said Melissa Bajadek a social studies teacher at Severna Park High School.

The students gathered in the auditorium Wednesday were taking part in the fourth annual Advancement Via Individual Determination Leadership Conference.

AVID started in San Diego in the early 1980s as a way to get students with GPAs in the 2.0-to-3.0 range to reach their potential. It's aimed at students who may be lacking in motivation or those who have bad family situations.

"It gives them the structure and focus to be academically successful," said Ms. Bajadek.

Ms. Bajadek was an AVID tutor in college at San Diego State and started the leadership conference while at Meade High School in 2005.

Part of the program includes bringing in successful adults who grew up in the area.

Last year's guest speaker was former Maryland Terrapin and Kansas City Chief Aziz Abdur-Raoof. Mr. Abdur-Raoof graduated from Northeast High School in 1983 and is now a real estate agent. He was also at the conference.

"It's a great way to network for students and it allows them to go outside their normal network," said Mr. Abdur-Raoof.

"You never know were life will take you, and one day some of these students may meet again as coworkers," he said.

After the speeches, the students broke up into student-led groups. The exercises were designed to help students make leadership decisions. There was some fumbling of the lesson plans, but the students eventually delivered their message.

One of the programs was titled, "Spider Bite!" The exercise created a scenario in which all the members of a camping trip were bitten by a poisonous spider. They were told an antidote was limited, so they needed to choose who, out of a cast of characters, was to survive and who would die.

After the presentation, the student leaders gave advice about getting into college and suggested looking at colleges sooner rather than later.

Glen Burnie junior Andrew Francis, 17, was a C- and D-student, but says that after two years in the program, he's now getting nothing less than a B.

"It made me more focus on what I had to get done," Andrew said.

"I made a daily calendar of what I need to get done in a timely manner. It helped me a lot and I learned that in the AVID program."