#364 – Supporting Students After Graduation, with Dr. Aliber Lozano

Dr. Aliber Lozano, Head of Teaching and Learning at AVID Center, discusses the importance of supporting students beyond high school graduation, emphasizing the need for a growth mindset and nurturing student agency. He highlights the challenges faced by first-generation college students, including financial literacy, social networks, and mental health. Aliber stresses the role of educators in fostering professional learning and maintaining connections with alumni. He shares exciting updates around the AVIDly Adulting™ podcast, aimed at first- and second-year professionals, and underscores the significance of community and networking in overcoming obstacles. The conversation concludes with a call to action for educators to support each other and their students.

Be good today. That’s enough, and together, let’s strive to be great tomorrow.

Dr. Aliber Lozano, Head of Teaching and Learning, AVID Center, and Host of the AVIDly Adulting™ podcast

Resources

The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:

• FAFSA and Financial Aid FAQs (article)
• Open Doors to Hopes and Dreams With FAFSA® and Financial Aid (article collection)
• Possibility Panel: A Conversation with Recent Graduates (podcast episode)
• Benefits of the AVID Program: Results of a UCLA Study, with Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz (podcast episode)
• College and Career Connections, with Tasha Henderson, Television Writer/Producer, and Her Former AVID Teacher, Ben Solomon (podcast episode)

You’re Enough

When students graduate, the world opens up in exciting and sometimes overwhelming ways. But what happens after the cap and gown? Our guest, Dr. Aliber Lozano, reminds us all, including recent graduates, that even when they struggle, they’re enough. To emphasize this point, he ends every one of his AVIDly Adulting™ podcast episodes with: “Be good today. That’s enough, and together, let’s strive to be great tomorrow.”

In this episode of Unpacking Education, Aliber elaborates on this theme, as he highlights the role of schools in building the persistence, networks, and life skills that students need to thrive. From tackling imposter syndrome to fostering financial literacy and mental health, Aliber’s insights underscore a broader truth: Supporting graduates not only changes individual lives but can transform families and communities. Whether you’re an educator, a parent, or someone invested in the success of young adults, this episode offers both inspiration and actionable strategies to keep the connection alive after graduation. The following are a few highlights from this episode:

• About Our Guest: Dr. Aliber Lozano is the Head of Teaching and Learning at AVID Center, and he serves as the host of the AVIDly Adulting podcast. He has been an educator for over 28 years and has worked directly with AVID across various capacities for over 20 years. Aliber is also a first-generation college graduate.
• Your Best Is Enough: He says, “When you reflect on it, you’ve got to realize that that’s enough and feel really good about it, even if you failed.” He points out that we grow from every experience and says that, to become better, it’s important to ask, “What am I going to do tomorrow . . . with that metacognition?”
• Failure Is Okay: Aliber recounts a recent conversation with two professionals whose son dropped out of college. They were a little embarrassed about it until Aliber told them that the decision was actually something to be celebrated: “That means he’s struggling and trying to make [things] better.”
• Connections: Aliber says, “It’s important to remain connected . . . and build that skillset, that persistence, and those tools needed to move and transition . . . into adulthood.”
• Financial Literacy: “Financial literacy is huge,” says Aliber. Whether they’re going on to college or straight into their career, students need to learn about financial aid, budgeting, responsible spending, and more.
• Support Networks: When schools stay connected to their alumni, the students retain the mentorship and support of the teachers and staff who helped prepare them for life after high school. Aliber says, “When schools stay connected, that means you’re connected to that community, and there’s an access to resources, especially with graduates from low-income backgrounds that aren’t aware that your community has all of these systems to help you—not just that are on a college campus, but if you go straight to career.”
• Personal Experience: Aliber says, “I’m speaking to you all today because of being first-generation Latino from South Texas where there are few resources. I was fortunate that mentors—educators in my life—sought me out, and that when I was going to graduate school, that application was placed in front of me, and [they] said, ‘Fill this out.'” Aliber explains that people kept prompting him to think about what was next for him, whether it was to pursue a Master’s Degree or a Doctorate. Without that prompting, he says, he wouldn’t have known those possibilities existed.
• A Broader Impact: Supporting student success goes beyond the individual student being supported. Aliber points out that it can “change the trajectory of your families” by establishing generational knowledge of what it takes to achieve success and navigate college and career pathways.
• A Lack of Professional Networks: “Many of our graduates, our alumni . . . don’t have networks. They don’t know somebody who knows somebody that can get me an interview. And sometimes, that’s all you need is that interview because . . . you can then sell yourselves based on your personality, your skillset, your education, your training. But they don’t have those networks as they’re going into those careers.”
• Mental Health: A third challenge facing recent graduates is mental health. Aliber shares, “Whether you’re eating healthy or you’re exercising, to stay healthy, you also have to exercise the mental health muscle every day—and whether that is talking to someone as a friend; doing metacognition on your own; [or] doing meditation, or mindfulness, or any form of exercise that you’re doing that can ease anxiety.”
• Imposter Syndrome: Graduates often feel that they don’t belong and aren’t prepared for those next steps, whether they’re going to college or career, especially when they don’t see themselves in those spaces. Aliber says that this feeling can be overcome by “leading with inquiry, so you are not an imposter. You are setting yourself up for success by asking those questions, especially in those entry-level jobs, because you’re now in a career.”
• The Hidden Curriculum: Those who have support networks and generational knowledge of how to navigate the system have advantages. They tend to approach adulthood with more confidence. Because of this, Aliber says, “I take a step back and elevate the others who have learned the hidden curriculum of staying positive, and being confident, and still being inquisitive, versus when you’re an imposter, you tend to shy away, close up, and only question yourself and not question outwardly.”
• AVID Alumni: Aliber is currently working to connect AVID’s alumni population. He estimates that there are about a million AVID alumni. Aliber says, “We’ve identified over 17,000, which is a good start, but we have a long ways to go to get to a million.” You can visit the AVID Alumni page on AVID.org to connect.
• AVIDly Adulting: Aliber hosts a new podcast geared to recent graduates as a way to support them on their journey into adulthood. It can be found on all major podcast platforms or on the AVID Open Access website.
• School’s Role: Aliber admits that schools must continually ask the question: “How do we best prepare our students to be ready and successful for college, career, and . . . life?” Educators play a big role in instilling the skills that students will need, including having a growth mindset and developing a sense of personal agency. This skill building should start in elementary school.
• Student Success Stories: Aliber says that a theme has emerged with the success stories he’s heard. Students who are connected to a strong community and retain those networks have success. Aliber says that students learn from both like-minded and unlike-minded peers. He adds, “I can’t wait to be able to name all 1 million and tell you those 1 million [stories], but I guarantee you the theme is they were connected to someone, whether it was their teacher, or their professor, or another one of their students, or running into someone who went to their school but they didn’t know, and they have a chance to reconnect as adults, and that’s how they stay connected and grow together.”
• FAFSA: Aliber wants to remind college students to fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid. That application opens doors to funding that can make postsecondary school possible. Students often forget that they need to reapply for aid each year.
• Join the Alumni Registry: By going to the AVID Alumni page, alumni can add their information to AVID’s growing alumni network. Aliber would like to see the 17,000 grow into a million.
• Celebrate: Aliber ends the podcast by reminding us that it’s okay to celebrate each other as educators and the important work we do every day. In fact, he encourages it. “Cheer for the community,” he says.