Let’s Celebrate National GEAR UP Week!

September 10-14, 2012

GEAR UP programs all over the country are celebrating their students!   This is an opportunity to showcase GEAR UP in your community and highlight its positive impact on students, parents, teachers, and schools.

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a discretionary grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by New Jersey Higher Education. Its goal is to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

September 13

NJ GEAR UP Directors Meeting, Trenton, NJ

Opening Remarks, Ms. Rochelle Hendricks, Secretary for the Office of Higher Education

September 14: GEAR UP! Atlantic City and Pleasantville, Atlantic Cape Community College

GEAR UP Community Event, Institute for Service Excellence, 5-7 p.m.

Students will get an opportunity to showcase their summer projects to help expand the awareness and understanding of GEAR UP to external groups and stakeholders.  All are invited!

September 15: Cumberland County College & Bridgeton Public Schools GEAR UP for Success

GEAR UP for the Community Summit, ALMS Center, 28 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, 12-3 p.m.

Come out and celebrate our national GEAR UP Week! We will have food, music, and workshops about what you need to GEAR UP for the academic year.  The entire Bridgeton community is invited!

(856)-691-8600 ext. 504.  Please click here for details. 

Please contact Kilpatry Cuesta at Kilpatry.Cuesta@njhe.state.nj.us to add your event to the calendar!

•  CCC & Bridgeton Public Schools GEAR UP for Success, Cumberland County College, Bridgeton

•  GEAR UP! Atlantic City and Pleasantville, Atlantic Cape Community College

•  C.H.A.M.P./GEAR UP, Rowan University, Camden

•  College Bound/GEAR UP, New Jersey City University, Jersey City

•  Consortium for Pre-College Education in Greater Newark,

    New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark

•  Project S.M.I.L.E./GEAR UP, Mercer County Community College, Trenton

•  College Bound SMT/GEAR UP, Passaic County Community College, Paterson

Ways to celebrate

National GEAR UP Week

• “Lifting Spirits through Service” Bring together students, parents, and teachers to participate in community service i.e., visit your local soup kitchen, visit with families at the Ronald McDonald House, visit your local senior care home, organize a community litter clean-up….the possibilities are endless!

• “Breaking Bread” Invite parents, grandparents, teachers, and counselors to a celebratory luncheon to thank them for their efforts and support of the program. Encourage students to share how they have been impacted by the program through a collage, skit, poetry, or other creative way

• “GEAR UP Dreams Wall” Create a mural by covering the wall of a classroom, hallway, or gym with butcher paper, place a large GEAR UP logo in the center with “Our GEAR UP Dreams” underneath, and have students write their academic, professional, and personal goals on the wall. Take a picture of the students by their dreams and send a few to your legislators, school officials, local newspaper and NJ GEAR UP State Project to be posted on the website (borrowing this idea from California GEAR UP!)