Staff Spotlight: Paula at Cottonwood HS
Each school has a site coordinator that understands the school and community. They help to create and adapt services to motivate students, increase engagement, and help each GEAR UP grant reach its goals. This spotlight features the efforts of Paula Almenar and other GEAR UP staff at Cottonwood High School.
Paula Almenar is pictured with a student at lunch time at Cottonwood High School.
Cottonwood HS has recently organized a GEAR UP seniors club that helps with events.
College visits, like this one to Snow College, make students aware of their options after high school.
Paula Almenar, site coordinator at Cottonwood High School, shared what she and her colleague Jessica Erickson have planned for the juniors and seniors at her school during the coming year. Cottonwood High School has students in both grant three as well as grant four, working with site coordinators Sonja Blodgett and Monica Gomez in the Granite School District.
As we all know, making successful college visits happen is the job of all site coordinators. These visits not only engage students, but they also make them aware of educational and program options after high school. This year, Paula and Jessica have upcoming scheduled visits to the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, Salt Lake Community College, Tooele Tech, Weber State University, Davis Tech, and Mountainland Tech.
During a recent visit to Snow College, the Cottonwood team recruited students to talk to their peers about their future plans on the bus ride to campus. Getting students to participate in activities to prepare them for the visit allows students to make the most of their time. Pre-and post-campus surveys were used to measure the success of the visit and student engagement.
Helping students discover what they want to do after high school is also important. Other events and activities are planned for the school year, including field trips, job site trips, classroom presentations and FAFSA nights. To better reach their students, Cottonwood HS has created a GEAR UP seniors club. Club member help with events and provide information to other students at lunch time. They also serve as examples and mentors to juniors at the school.
October is the month that the Utah System of Higher Education partners with schools to encourage Utah College Application Week (UCAW). The goal of this initiative is to help high school seniors navigate the college admissions process and submit at least one college admissions application during the school day. The Cottonwood HS team is focused on making this happen as well.
Communication channels that the site coordinators at Cottonwood High School use to get the word out include the school news and announcements, CANVAS, teams, email, information table at lunchtime, social media, bulletin board, fliers, and the senior club.
Paula and her school's GEAR UP team are working hard to create a college-going culture at Cottonwood High School for the class of 2023 and 2024. Please reach out to her directly with questions and for additional resources.