Canyons School District educator Jay Rudel has been recognized as a finalist for the AVID Global Achievement Award on the eve of AVID's 45th anniversary celebration. Rudel, who serves as the AVID Coordinator and Teacher Specialist, is one of the select few finalists for this new award, which honors educators who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to the program's values of high expectations and support for student success.
AVID, short for Advancement Via Individual Determination, has a long-standing presence in over 7,500 schools nationwide, with Canyons School District proudly hosting the program in five of its institutions. Rudel's contribution has been significant in the program's impact on students, including those at Eastmont Middle, which received the honor of becoming an AVID Demonstration School last year—a distinction held by only the top one percent of AVID schools in the country. He began his AVID journey as an elective teacher at Mount Jordan Middle School in 2011 and has since moved to steadily grow the program's influence as a district coordinator since 2021.
"I think it gives teachers the focus that all students can learn given the right tools," Rudel told Canyons School District News. He reinforced the idea that the responsibility falls both on educators and students to embrace the challenge of achievement through high-quality teaching and fostering strong relationships between students and between students and educators.
The AVID National Conference in San Diego this December will be the stage for the award announcement, with a live-streamed ceremony to be hosted on AVID's social media platforms. Rudel, who is slated to present at the conference alongside Jordan High Instructional Coach Amy Guyaux, remains focused on his primary mission of enhancing the lives of students and teachers. "Life doesn't change for me," Rudel said in the same interview with Canyons School District News. "I come in every day, do the best I can, trying to improve each student’s life, each teacher’s life, and each principal’s life that I interact with each and every day."
