The AIM program has been a fixture of Grayslake Central High School for approximately six years. However, it is former math teacher Nicholas Custodio’s first year as the Academic Intervention and Mentoring Coordinator. Custodio and the teachers who work in AIM help students who may be struggling with a certain aspects of school and work to set them up for a successful future.

AIM has two main components: AIM study and AIM interventions. AIM study “is located in [room]1435. That area is a space for students who are academically struggling or maybe struggling with executive functioning in their daily routine. They get a combination of whole group instruction on executive functioning skills, as well as ‘pull-outs’ for individual 30 minutes of executive functioning support or intervention,” Custodio said.

AIM intervention is a focused, 30 minute period of time where particular skill deficits are addressed, specifically in reading and math. “The teacher will work on [those] with the student in hopes that that skill gap will be bridged. So that they… discontinue struggling in that specific skill area after they leave us.”

Custodio is especially proud of the connections forged between teachers and students in the AIM program. “I think that we as a program, we do a very good job of building relationships  and connecting the students to not only our supports here, but making them feel comfortable with the academic support that we provide.” Danielle Christopherson, an executive functioning interventionist at Grayslake Central High School said “Our ultimate goal is to have students be independent and responsible.”

Christopherson also explained that the skills students learn in AIM, like prioritizing different assignments and organization, could help them in their future after high school. “Learning all those other skills [is important] so that they’re successful when they leave and they can do those things independently,” Christopherson said. Custodio also touched on how AIM is built to help students with managing their time and responsibilities if they may be struggling with certain skills.

“Executive functioning goes along with study skills and organization and just helping a student organize their time.” Nicole Belmont, a counselor at Grayslake Central explained that even students who are not assigned specific AIM intervention or study time in their schedule still have “built- in” supports they can utilize. “So like the MARC, the Write Room, scheduling meetings with your teachers, taking opportunities to work with a peer tutor, those are all Tier 1 supports,” Belmont said. Custodio said something similar, encouraging students
to employ supports outside of AIM as well. “I’m all in favor of helping students, but  I’m also a big advocate for utilizing the resources that we have in school,” like the above mentioned Tier 1 supports available to all students, regardless if they have an IEP or 504 plan.

As AIM coordinator, Custodio wants to continue connecting
with students and making AIM a “positive” in their eyes. “I just hope that our work this year continues to move
forward… in regards to supporting students in a more  efficient way. And I hope that through my interactions with
staff, students, building admin, and district admin, that the narrative of what we do as a program is more positive. It’s definitely a narrative that needs to change and we can only change it through positive interaction, through those students enrolled in AIM. I hope that they spread the positive message to other classmates [and] say, ‘[AIM]’s actually pretty sweet.”