Although the school year has ended for most students it becomes a busy time for the USU Eastern GEAR UP program. GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs and that is exactly what the students in the program and their parents will focus on during the summer.
Kris Alley, GEAR UP Advisor at USU Eastern explained, “We have our first ACT Boot Camp, we got together with some staff over at USU-E and staff in the local high schools and we got together and said what would help our kids with the ACT Test. It kind of has its own language and its own theories and it’s something that until you take it, you really don’t quite understand it. So we are trying to get people use to those questions.” This will allow students to gain knowledge of what section and/or course they may need to focus on so that when the time does come to take the actually test they are ready and prepared.
Parents play an enormous role in their student’s education and in their pursuit of a college dream. “We are going to have some parent workshops across the two counties, on June 16 we will be at USU Eastern in the West Instructional Building in 207 and we will teach you how to get paid to go to college, so it’s a very good thing. There’s a lot of people that have their college paid for and actually make some money, you know when they graduate from high school and enjoy it. You work hard it will pay off,” stated Alley. It’s important to learn about any resources available to help fund your student’s college education.
Another informative workshop that will be offered for students and parents will definitely help when it comes time to head off to college in the fall. “On June 23 we will be at the Green River City Hall and we will be talking about Surviving the Transition from Graduation to College. You know sometimes being from a small rural community you get in those big schools it gets a bit overwhelming, so we try to give you some advice, give you some resources and really try to help you survive that transition because it’s a step up, as you well know,” stated Alley. The content from this workshop will help the student and parent to better understand that “transition” is only temporary and the college experience will be a once in a lifetime.
The final workshop will be held on June 30 at the Castle Dale City Hall located at 65 East 100 North. “This one is Making It in A Struggling Economy, once again we’re really going to try and hit home the value of education, especially now with our economy the way it is. There is not a whole bunch we can do, we’re trying. But we figure well, it’s time to adapt and one thing about this area, these people around here they adapt and they survive and we’re going to do that,” said Alley.
To learn more about the GEAR UP program visit the website at https://usueastern.edu/price/gearup/index