Sept. 5, 2013
Communications tools for GEAR UP advisors
Sample School Newsletter article
Advisors:
Red type indicates where you should fill in details specific to your school/district – or delete those sentences.
When this article was submitted to a Jeffco school newsletter, it included pictures of Craig and Duane, our advisors, and a photo of our GEAR UP students with Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia and Education Commissioner Robert Hammond. We have many pictures available that we can provide you to include.
Colorado GEAR UP helps students fulfill college dreams
Colorado GEAR UP is the state’s effort to work with students who might not realize college is an option for them. We help them go to college and graduate – in fact, our students graduate high school, go to college and stay in college at higher rates than the state average.
Many of our students are the first in their families to go to college. They may have family members who encourage them to think about college but they don’t always know how to help them get there.
That’s where our GEAR UP advisors come in. We start working with students in middle school and follow them through high school and into college. Advisors meet with students twice a month, monitor their academic progress and provide lessons on topics such as applying for college and financial aid.
In addition, GEAR UP advisors help students enroll for the Colorado Opportunity Fund and take students to visit college campuses. As our students enroll in college, they’re eligible for up to $10,000 in scholarships.
An important element of our work is dual enrollment – to help students build confidence in their ability to do well in college, we encourage them to take college courses in high school. On average, our students graduate from high school having already earned 17 college credit hours.
Colorado GEAR UP has advisors in more than 30 middle and high schools in districts from Alamosa to Greeley. In Jefferson County, GEAR UP advisors serve students in grades 8, 9 and 10 in O’Connell and Wheat Ridge middle schools and Alameda and Jefferson high schools.
Like many school programs, we grow one grade at a time. So in the fall of 2014, we’ll add another group of eighth-graders. When we’re fully grown, we expect to be serving about 5,000 students across Colorado.
GEAR UP is federally funded; the program was signed into law by President Clinton in 1998. We’re overseen by the state Department of Higher Education, led by Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, who is a staunch advocate of our work.
If you would like to learn more about GEAR UP, you can check in with our Jeffco advisors – Craig Pena at O’Connell and Alameda and Duane Akerfelds at Wheat Ridge and Jefferson. You can also visit our website at www.ColoradoGEARUP.org or contact Sierra E. Fleenor at or 303-866-4742.