Introducing Rayn Phillips, AVID Program Coordinator

Posted by on September 30, 2015

Rayn is on the far left with AVID students from Frankford High School and Harding Middle School, fellow AVID Tutor Marquis Roberson and District AVID Director, Michelle Grimley

Rayn Phillips is taking on the role of the AVID Tutor Liaison/Coordinator at PHENND for the 2015-2016 School Year. She will continue to serve all GEAR UP schools which host the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program and serve as PHENND’s liaison for the School District of Philadelphia 2010 GEAR UP grant.

The AVID program is a pre-college access program that prepares at-risk students to be college ready in the twenty-first century. In AVID’s peer-led tutorial program, college and university students serve as facilitators to encourage and assist in the development of middle and high school students critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Rayn recruits, trains, and manages students from area colleges and universities such as Arcadia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University to service seven AVID middle and high schools in the Philadelphia public school system.  In addition to tutorial trainings and college recruitment, Rayn will be focusing on assisting schools with strengthening their university and community partnerships in order to establish an in-house method of recruitment and training for proceeding academic years.

Rayn is a firm proponent and advocate in addressing social injustices through education at every level in the classroom and in everyday matters. She received her start in youth development as a youth volunteering in the Summer Reading Program at the Free Library of Philadelphia. At the start of her undergraduate career at Arcadia University, Rayn continued her work with the Free Library of Philadelphia through the Community and Civic Engagement Center. In her senior year, she left her work-study position at the Free Library to serve as an AVID tutor at Lincoln High school and Incarcerated Voices in order to expand her real world education on social injustices, while assisting both populations with their critical thinking and writing skills.

Rayn is a graduate of Arcadia University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Her long term career goal is to continue to work with disadvantaged populations as a lawyer.