Nia Winston is a junior here at South Lakes High School and an AVID student as well. We have witnessed a great amount of leadership from Winston this year. As the representative for the Fairfax Connector Stakeholder Group, she became the voice for local teens, advocating for our community to provide us with better transportation.

According to Nia Winston, the purpose of the meeting that she attended was to basically inform the people in charge of the connector routes, alongside companies with employees using the Connector transportation to go to work. They all met in this big board room and went through a PowerPoint to explain how the Connector is set up and the different routes. Her job was to provide new knowledge to the people in charge, explaining to them what needs improvement. They discussed what areas would they like to cut out to make the routes easier and faster.

This was definitely very interesting to Winston, because, in the past, there have been some issues with the bus, like slow transportation and inappropriate comments from bus drivers geared towards young girls. One of her important inputs was to ensure student safety for the students  – especially for teenage girls. She reasoned that if Connector is going to be connected with kids, they’d have to know their bus drivers and feel comfortable with them. She wanted to make sure she got her story out there and make sure that everybody was aware of this problem so there could be a solution.

That day, it was a great day, a big opportunity. “It was a really great experience but as being a representative of our school. I had to put everything aside and just be present, be bold, shake hands, introduce myself, be strong with my voice, and give my opinion,” she stated, “After the meeting, I felt like I accomplished something really big. After walking out and rethinking about everything that we discussed – how we put together ideas – it was amazing because that already gives you connections to other people that have high profiles (that’ll soon be great interactions for later in life). It was really great, especially to give my input on how safety is important.

Nia Winston has been in AVID ever since seventh grade. According to her, it’s one of the best electives that they have here. AVID’s goal is for students to prosper academically and thrive in the future. SLHS teachers put a lot of thought and heart into AVID because they want the youth, and the kids following behind us, to continue to flourish, just like Nia Winston.