Middle School Students Receive Early College Support and Guidance through GEAR UP Program
“Do you dream of being a professional hockey player? Write it down… we’ll reach out to companies and people in that field who can come talk about it. Is there somewhere you’re thinking you’d like to go to college? Write it down… we’ll plan a trip there to visit.”Brandi Williams is an SCSD teacher, now turned SCSD GEAR UP Facilitator.
New this year, the program she oversees – Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), is a national discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
SCSD is one of ten recipients of the grant across New York State. Ms. Williams, as GEAR UP Facilitator, is now busy at work informing 7th grade families at Ed Smith, Frazer, Huntington, H.W. Smith, Roberts, Lincoln, and Grant about the benefits of the program and how it will help their children.
Through GEAR UP, this year’s 7th grade cohort will receive additional supports and opportunities that follow them through their high school career and their first year of college. This includes tutoring, mentoring, college tours, early career experiences, and financial literacy. Students’ families will also benefit through career and academic courses and workshops to help assist them along their own journeys – with everything from citizenship classes and language courses to foundational technology courses and more!
This June, to help current 7th graders get excited about the GEAR UP program, participating schools hosted a special kickoff celebration for them. Students enjoyed motivational remarks from amputee and WWE star Zach Gowen, and then enjoyed a special pizza lunch.
“Life is not about what happens to us,” Mr. Gowen said. “It’s about how we respond to what happens to us.”
At the kickoff celebration, students were encouraged to complete a career interest survey to help them determine areas they may be interested in pursuing. They considered qualities that describe them, activities that sound interesting school subjects they enjoy or do well in, and things they enjoy doing in their free time. Then, they tallied their responses to find if they leaned toward a possible interest in Health & Medicine, Agriculture & Sciences, Art & Communications, Engineering & Technology, Business & Management, or Human & Public Service. Their responses will be used by GEAR UP staff as they help plan for upcoming events for the students to enjoy.
“I loved this,” HW Smith 7th grader Lydia Brechler said of the GEAR UP celebration. “I love to hear different points of view, and especially recovery stories. I’ve struggled with feeling low and picking myself back up – so it’s always nice to hear from people who have been in that place and have gone on to achieve success and be really happy. I think the GEAR UP program will help me because it’s going to be great to learn about different colleges. I’m hoping the program will help me find the right place for me… I hope to become an author and dance teacher one day.”
“I liked hearing from Mr. Gowen because I learned that even if you’re at a disadvantage – like missing a body part – you can still do anything you want to do,” classmate Jerome Weah added. “I want to be in the NBA one day, and I hope that GEAR UP can help me get into a D1 college!”
That’s exactly what the GEAR UP program aims to do: increase graduation rates, enrollment in advanced high school coursework, student social emotional learning awareness and skills, and student and family knowledge and experience with college planning.
This summer, GEAR UP students will have a head start on these opportunities. 100 students from GEAR UP schools will be attending an early college experience day at Cornell University, where they’ll enjoy a walking tour of campus, a catered lunch in the dining hall, and a ‘choose your college experience’ activity. They’ll get a taste of what it would be like to take classes in Agriculture and Life Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Human Ecology, and Industrial and Labor Relations. A second group of students will be selected to attend a three-day experience at Wells College in Aurora, New York for a Power of Youth Summer Leadership Academy. There, the students will be able to live in a college dorm for a few days with other GEAR UP students from across the state and will learn to use their voices to make a positive change.
To learn more about the GEAR UP program, please visit www.syracusecityschools.com/GEARUP!
