Thank You to Our Grant One Partners and Schools
As the USU GEAR UP grant one ends eight years of serving students and families, we celebrate the schools and partners in our community that made this program a success. Creating a college-going culture through career awareness and promoting STEM-education and language arts that will help students in years to come.
Teachers participating GEAR UP Science Day, following their UtSTA conference each year
As we close this chapter of the USU STARS! GEAR UP program, we recognize that grant one worked to bring a college awareness focus to the schools it served. With an emphasis on students, the program encouraged academic rigor and financial aid knowledge, along with college and career exploration. Professional development opportunities involved teachers and staff in topics like subject lesson planning and Texas Instrument equipment. Over its duration, the grant provided over 550 services to 5,700 teachers/staff at our participating schools.
Changing a culture involves educating families as well as students. College and career nights, and FAFSA workshops in the schools reached families. As a result, 20,000 parents or guardians became involved in one or more of these sorts of activities over the life of the grant. Connections such as these laid the foundation for GEAR UP grants two (2015-2022), three (2017-2024), and four (2018-2024) to continue serving students and families.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the participating schools and collaborative partnerships. In a GEAR UP partnership grant, schools and community partners provide dollar-for-dollar cost share match to the grant's award funding. This means that schools and partners contributed $15.5 million over eight years. Nearly 3,000 students in middle school started in the fall of 2012. Cohorts of students at Mt. Logan Middle School, Eagle View Elementary, North Sanpete Middle School, Ephraim Middle School, Gunnison Middle School, Dual Immersion Academy, American Preparatory Academy, Wendover High School, West Wendover Middle School, and North Davis Junior High School became the first to be involved in GEAR UP programs.
Since the grant follows the student as they transition into high school, the schools changed as the grant progressed. Logan High School, Uintah Middle School, Uintah High School, North Sanpete High School, Manti High School, Gunnison High School, Clearfield High School, and Innovations High School all continued with GEAR UP programming. At the end of grant one, around 6,000 individual students were served, many of whom continued their education at colleges and universities. Collaborative partnerships are the foundation of the work to increase high school graduation rates, and create academically-prepared students enrolling and succeeding in college. Our network of partners includes colleges, teachers associations, non-profit groups, and business partners.
The project would not have been possible without the vision of the faculty and staff of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, and the leadership of the School of Teacher Education and Leadership. The knowledge and experience shared by teams of people provided support and growth to the project. Our teachers and students continue to benefit from the connections to the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Natural Resources, as well as many departments and centers on the Utah State University campus.
Now and in the future, the USU STARS! GEAR UP program continues to emphasize and support a students' abilities to be successful after high school and in college, working to support and grow their knowledge in STEM-education and language arts. It will continue to support professional development for teachers and staff, working with the schools that serve these students, supporting the mission to make college a reality for all students. We look forward to what the future holds for our students.