A group of approximately 50 seniors from River Rouge High School will be visiting Eastern Michigan University Thursday with help from the Holman Success Center’s GEAR UP program: Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
The University Advising and Career Development Center, Admissions and Financial Aid offices will give the students a tour of campus along with several presentations.
“This trip is significant for these students because this group of students is what remains of the original group from 2006,” said Dr. Janice Jones, project coordinator for the Holman Success Center.
Eight students from RRHS and Cody High School in Detroit currently attend EMU and are preparing to return to their high schools and middle schools for college and career readiness workshops. The Summer Incentive Program was instrumental in partnering with GEAR UP to support student learning.
The Wade McCree, Jr. Incentive Scholars/Detroit Compact Scholars have partnered with GEAR UP this year to provide tutoring to high school students.
These students will receive approximately $5,500 in scholarships for the next four consecutive years, Jones said.
In 2006, the Holman Success Center was awarded a grant for the GEAR UP program, and this year they were one of 15 universities in the state of Michigan to receive another six-year grant beginning in 2012.
Students can expect to see some familiar faces when they arrive Thursday; several members of the current GEAR UP staff were students who participated in the program over the last six years.
One freshman, Luis Diaz, is now a facilitator for the GEAR UP program. The communications and social work major is looking forward to sharing his experiences and encouraging others the same way he was.
“I didn’t intend on going to college,” Diaz said. “I was just going to join the Marines because I didn’t know of any resources to get into college or how I could pay for it. GEAR UP exposed me to the resources that were available to me.”
GEAR UP works with a range of students from middle school to high school years, encouraging them to go to college –not exclusively EMU. Those involved in the program try to look out for the students’ best interests by explaining the available resources and assisting them. Tutoring for specific classes is available, too, such as math, science and English.
Carmond Smith, an accounting and finance major, turned to GEAR UP at Cody High School for help and is now giving back.
“I look forward to working with the students throughout and helping them in the same ways that GEAR UP helped me,” Smith said. “I will be doing workshops on turning their interest into majors.
The program will begin working with students in three middle schools and follow them until they graduate from high school. They will only be able to follow students who attend schools they are active in.
“This program gives students a strong foundation for what they need to attend college and at the same time, encourages and supports them in their current course of study,” said senior Lanita Sledge, who is majoring in secondary education and mathematics. She has been working with GEAR UP for two years.
A parent component to GEAR UP is also available, according to Inna Rising, a graduate assistant for GEAR UP.
“We try to get the parents involved by inviting them to visit the universities,” Rising said. “In addition to that, we also are trying to give parents information and about college admission and how to get their students prepared for college. Our tutoring component is new and we just try to help every student that needs our help.”
