There has been a great deal of changes throughout the USU-Eastern GEAR UP grant program, the program said goodbye to former Director, Brandon Flores, who transferred to the same program at Weber State in August. This the director position vacant and needing to be filled immediately. The newly selected Director is Linda Hapsmith, who is somewhat new to the local area and she brings a substantial amount of secondary and technical college experience with her.
“So, I’m stationed at USU-Eastern and people there have been wonderful. We have amazing staff there and everyone on campus has just been delightful,” said Hapsmith. Her previous experiences include positions with Penn State, University of Alaska Fairbank and Davis Technical College, where she assisted thousands of students academically so that they could develop suitable career and life plans.
“There are quite a number of new faces here at GEAR UP and so, we have new advisors at our local high schools and then in our office, we have a new student mentor, who is absolutely amazing and she works with our freshman GEAR UP students who have completed high school and now are attending USU-Eastern,” stated Hapsmith. The new advisors for the high schools this year are Josie Luke located at Pinnacle High School, Nellie Lee in the Emery High School and the first-year student mentor is Vivika Corona. Returning as advisors this year are Trenton Wilson at Carbon High, Kim Andrus with Green River High and Jessica Tucker, who advices the Lighthouse High students and assists in the office.
GEAR UP is a competitive grant program through the U.S. Department of Education. The sole purpose of the program is to serve the educational needs of low-income students in both Carbon and Emery counties. Hapsmith added, “We don’t have deadline dates for applications and so anyone who is a junior or senior in high school are encourage to apply at our website. So, they can go on and apply and then from there we can make sure that they are eligible for the program.” The application is readily available at https://usueastern.edu/price/gearup/about/index
If a student is found to be eligible for the program they may receive services to support them to be successful students educationally, financially and socially. “They have access to homework help, tutoring help, at Carbon and Pinnacle High Schools a class that they can take to help prepare them for college. Then we also work with parents too, so we have special workshops in the summer for parents,” explained Hapsmith. Other benefits students in the program are given the chance to visit state colleges, including Colorado Mesa University, which is the only out of state visit made, financial aid and college admissions workshops are available as well.
To learn more about the GEAR UP grant program visit their Facebook page or call the office at 613-5204.