Education shouldn't be like Halloween?

 

 

 

Halloween—a holiday that can be a huge hit or great miss. Either super fun, full of yummy cavity-inducing pieces of carbohydrates composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, OR an adventure in near-freezing temperatures when nobody guesses your costume and your siblings get more candy than you do. A holiday when everyone decides they want to go to the "wealthy" neighborhoods because they will hand out more candy, or have better ones.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that a lot of us really do look for the most cost efficient ways of going about our day, even when it comes to going trick-or-treating. The cost benefit ratio of going up a hill with a few houses on a cul-de-sac might not seem worth the walk, for example. Logically, most of us we go to the easy-access houses that have the best decorations because most likely, "you will get more for your buck".

All that aside, I have noticed that education unfortunately can be perceived in this same matter. Students can start to believe that if a school is not going to provide the "right chocolate" or "enough", then it is not worth attending anymore. So what I am trying to get at? Recently, I've been wondering:

Can we make it so that everyone is getting their fair share of mega-sized Kit Kats, Jolly Ranchers, M&M's (peanuts, pretzel, dark chocolate...), giant gummy worms, Nerds, and Starbursts? Can we change our ideas about the purpose of Halloween, and understand that it is all about having a good time, walking around our communities, and participating in a nation-wide holiday that unifies us in our fear of death and all things spooky?

Can we make it so that education becomes a place without discrimination, so that all of our kids have equal access to a world of exploration, growth, and fun? Can we give our passionate leaders a place to communicate and collaborate to come together and make change? Can we give all the best to kids regardless of their zip code?

That’s exactly what GEAR UP is doing! Now, students can see endless possibilities, many of which were students who wouldn't usually see the benefit of a post-secondary education. They have shifted their paradigms and see value in going to school. GEAR UP lets us know that the cost benefit ratio of education is actually in our favor if we are willing to dream, pardon, PLAN in big ways! As a community, anyone is capable of achieving even the grandest of impossibilities, like winning Willy Wonka's golden ticket. It seems scary to leave your hometown, to do things that you have never done before, spend thousands of dollars on something that you don't know a thing about except the fact that it doesn’t guarantee a job especially with our economic recession.

But, as one collective, we can change the culture. College can actually be a great investment-once we make it plausible for everyone to put on a “costume” and go forth and prosper—wherever they may find themselves. So today, the day after Halloween, what candy will you hand out? Can you continue to distribute the precious goodies all kids are craving? Will you help the children of your home see the value of a higher education? Can you change the fact that kids are dropping out of school and falling through the cracks because they don't see the benefit of paying for a future that their parents can't always help pave? Will YOU be there to help fill the cavities?

GEAR UP has and will continue to do so, and I will attempt to help. #GUALA 

Below: Lucy and Miss America discussing education after going out trick-or-treating.
Coming soon: Equity for all, and to all a great education!



 

Thank you,

-Alma Irene Aguilar

Time is a Gift

It is with great pleasure to reconnect with the Gear Up Leaders. Time is such a valuable factor in our lives,  whether it being the past or future. These past months have been a rollercoaster for me. Tuskegee university has kept me busy with exams, work, track practice, and I forgot to mention the constant hospital visits to rehabilitate the health of my right leg due to a recent car accident. With that being said TIME is a GIFT. We walk through our cities as leaders who have so much to accomplish, we walk through our cities as leaders who have so many to inspire and we walk through our cities as leaders who want to see their vision come to reality.

-Traverse through the encumbering challenges life may hand
-Mekal Smith 

Resiliency

Yesterday, tragedy struck my home state of Nevada.  No one was prepared for yet another school shooting.  No one was prepared for it to happen in Sparks, Nevada. 

Yet, here we are, a day after the shooting, showing our resiliency.  Sparks Middle School will not be holding classes for the rest of the week, but next week they will be back in the swing of things.  They will continue to make education a priority, and maybe educate more about the effects of bullying, or whatever caused that student to become filled with so much anger.  They will remember, but they will continue to move forward.

Some of the students who attend Sparks MS are a part of Dean's Future Scholars (DFS), and so are a part of GEAR UP.  Those students will continue to move forward and make college a priority.  Other GEAR UP students from Traner and Vaughn Middle Schools were scheduled to come to the University of Nevada, Reno, today for a field trip.  Although there was talk of cancelling the trip, it was not cancelled, and these students will still be able to step onto UNR's campus.  For some students, this may be the first time they have stepped foot on this campus, even though they only live 10 minutes away. 

Maybe the tragic events of yesterday will give other students courage to stand up against bullies, and to help those who are in need.  Maybe the tragic events of yesterday will give others hope that their future can be brighter if they only reach out for help when they need it.  Maybe the tragic events of yesterday will make us all better people in order to avoid another tragedy.

Whatever happens to us in life, we can be resilient.  We can choose to keep moving forward even when life trips us up. 

I hope that the families who lost loved ones are comforted, and that the staff and students and Sparks MS can keep on keeping on.  My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

What does Gear UP have to offer?

Everyone wants to be in gear up!

Lately, there has been an overwhelming number of students coming to the gear up resource center here at Central High School asking "How do I sign up for gear up?" or "Can I be apart of gear up?". Most of the time, it's great to inform those students who we can accept...seniors and freshmen. In terms of the sophomores and juniors, it breaks my heart to basically tell them that they can receive less than half of the services we offer. I, personally, definitely try to follow up with those students just in the hallways or in the lunchroom and see how they are doing, even if they aren't part of our 2 cohorts.

During gear up week, we put together assemblies in each of the 3 high schools in Bridgeport. A part of the assembly here at Central High School included a video that I put together of past college tours that we have taken our (now seniors) on. We showed this to the class of 2017 (freshmen) so they can really believe what it is that we have to offer. Instead of just talking and talking, we showed them that the very students that they go to school with have been to amazing places like Washington, D.C. and Boston.

Yale-Bridgeport Gear Up Partnership College Tours: 

These are some pictures of the many college tours we have taken our students from the class of 2014 over the years. They are now seniors in either Central High School, Bassick High School, or Harding High School from Bridgeport, Connecticut. We really wanted to get across what Gear Up has to offer and what the students should be taking advantage of. 

Here are some other pictures of the assembly:

 

  




You can see some of seniors speaking to the 9th graders about their experience with gear up. Also, you can see that we showed the senior and freshman "theme" for them to follow throughout high school. The senior theme being "Mission Possible" and the freshman theme being "Transformers". We linked both themes to what gear up measures, offers, and provides in services. Lastly, we showed the 9th graders a video of the motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, and his famous video "Secrets to Success". The students really seemed to love it.

All in all, gear up week was fun and definitely brought more students in which is what our goal was! I hope everyone else has an enjoyable gear up and are continuing to offer your very valuable time and efforts towards changing lives one day at a time! :)


Maysoun Chawiche
Connecticut! 

From Summer School to Pharmacy School

As I am sitting here doing chemistry and biology homework, it is so crazy to think that I have already experienced my first year on campus! I'm no longer the "fresh face" of campus and it is truly a bittersweet moment. This time last year I was just settling into the college life, thinking about what I was going to wear to the football game and how to make the most of the space in my dorm room. Now I am looking into Pharmacy Schools and taking some of the hardest classes of my life. But, I know without participating in the GEAR UP Program throughout high school and middle school I would not have been as prepared as I am now.
I would like to thank GEAR UP KY for every college visit, every parent night and having us do college research to determine which college had majors that we were interested in and also helping us with applying to those schools when the time came. I would like to personally thank Ms. Nealy and Mrs.Eckler for holding our weekly meetings and never neglecting to make sure that we always stayed on track with whatever we were doing. The GEAR UP Academy is still one of my top GEAR UP memories because I was able to stay at a campus during an entire summer, meet my college roommate and also build relationships with students that are now enrolled all over the state of Kentucky. I just recently read an article that was made in 2009 when I participated in the GEAR UP Academy at EKU, and it's so cool to see that my interests in Pharmacy were still very apparent in the interview.

Thank you GEAR UP for keeping me on track and always giving me a shoulder to lean on!

New Beginnings

September has passed, which means National GEAR UP Week just ended, the end of Hispanic Heritage Month is near, no more summer, the end of my teenage years (I just turned 20), the end of life, the end of this, the end of that. Seems like everywhere I turn everything is coming to an end…except that would be the wrong way to look at life. The better way would be to live in society, “Like the legend of the phoenix/Our ends were beginnings/ What keeps the planet spinning/ The force from the beginning”, and use the past to construct a better future. Sometimes deaths and ends in life can only make for new opportunities to improve, acquire strength, and pursue education and wisdom.

That is what GEAR UP did during National GEAR UP Week (Sept 23-27) in my hometown of Toppenish, WA. Sometimes middle school and high school can be most difficult times for youth, but knowing that people believe in you and that everyone is willing to invest in your potential to go to college, can represent a new beginning, a new way to look at life and understand the future. All week long, middle schoolers and high schoolers worked on decorating their advisory classroom doors that promoted post-secondary education. Elaborate and multicolored doors represented the endless possibilities for students in my community who are sometimes unaware of the many existing colleges and universities out there. In addition, various presenters spoke to the importance of college and how accessible it actually can be.. The middle school was also able to take students to the UW GEAR UP Business Luncheon in Yakima where they had the opportunity to talk to professionals about their careers and educative experiences. This allowed our young adults to meet real community members that have been successful in achieving their goals-both in school and in their careers. To top it all off, Friday was an all-school GEAR UP T-shirt day and celebrated their plans (not just their dreams) to go to college.

"Providing beginnings" is the way in which I can best describe how GEAR UP has changed my life. Many times I thought “this is it, I am done, there is nothing more for me, why even try?,  even if I tried, I would not have anything to show for my investment, blah, blah, blah”—all until GEAR UP.

Ends in general, imply change, but understanding that change can be good, can be the difference between surviving and falling through the cracks.

Throughout it all though, I had the support of many people, and among them was the GEAR UP team. Thanks to the GEAR UP coordinator at my school (my home girl, Cassandra Martinez), I was able to attend the GEAR UP Alumni Leadership Academy (GUALA) which has definitely made the “end” of high school a bit more bearable. Even the end of GUALA proved to be just the beginning of a beautiful relationship with people from all over the country, as well as a system of accountability that keeps me passionate about starting something bigger than myself.

When a dream dies, the pain helps us value every moment of life we have just a bit more. We remember the great memories, the hot sun on our exposed bodies; the years in which one had (in theory) minimal responsibilities and adults saw us as dependent children; the minutes spent on creating new relationships and sustaining the old ones. All of this to say, that the end can only bring about change and a huge potential for new starts!

Again, thanks to the Toppenish High School students, staff, and faculty, and my community of the Yakima Valley, which have allowed me to continue with new beginnings. Also, special thanks to Seattle Biomedical Research Institute who is allied with GEAR UP to create a world of scholarship, leadership,  and educated advocates in order to collaborate and end infectious diseases. Thank you lastly, to Whitworth University which is fostering an ideal environment for me and other students to make a difference in the world.

Above all, thank you all for reading, and remember to look at the new adventures in your life!

Alma out.

Sharing the Experience...

Greetings GEAR UP community! It was great to see everyone doing amazing things in light of National GEAR UP Week this week. I wanted to take some time to connect with you all and share my service to the state of Louisiana. 

As a fairly new idea for the state, there will be an election for state GEAR UP officers to serve as liaisons to the state GEAR UP Office and GEAR UP schools and their Explorers' Clubs. To help students get a better understanding of the election process, in addition to sharing my experience as a GUALA, I created a video; and with sharing with LA, I wanted to share with our national GEAR UP community as well! I have attached the edited version with just the State Officer portion (the entire video is approx. 30 mins!) Hope you are doing great! Continue to progress!

Much love,

TNT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSSM_fuPhZY&feature=youtu.be