GEAR UP students get a head start on college

FALLBROOK – As part of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP), 30 incoming high school freshmen had the opportunity to attend the Palomar College Summer Enrichment Program from June 25 through Aug. 3.

These tuition-free classes earned them high school and college credits. Courses students enrolled in included Build Your Own Computer and Head Start to College. On Aug. 2, GEAR UP held a completion ceremony at the Palomar College San Marcos campus with families and friends.

The Fallbrook students in the program began GEAR UP as sixth- and seventh-graders in the spring of 2017. Palomar College received the Rural and Reservation GEAR UP Partnership Program Grant from the United States Department of Education and is working in partnership with the Fallbrook Union Elementary, Fallbrook Union High, Valley Center-Pauma Unified and Vista Unified school districts.

The Rural & Reservation (Rural Res) program grant is serving 2,500 students who are now in eighth and ninth grade and will stay with them through their first to second year of college (from 2016-2023). According to GEAR UP staff, the program offers effective longitudinal tools to enhance students/schools' college going culture, leading more students to post-secondary education.

The goal of the program is to increase student success in obtaining a college degree and jobs in local science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) industries.

Local businesses can collaborate by speaking at STEAM workshops, participating in activities that promote higher education, and mentoring through job shadowing and career Q/A sessions.

Marketing/business adviser Therese Cisneros-Remington said, "Unique to GEAR UP, we require partnerships with local businesses to find ways to better connect commerce and future industries with middle and high school students, teachers and parents, especially to promote the STEAM fields."

The program is supported by more than 30 educational, community and commerce partners, including the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce and Wells Fargo Bank, Fallbrook.

Anyone interested in participating in The Palomar College GEAR UP Partnership Program can contact Cisneros-Remington, (760) 744-1150 x3680 or [email protected]. To reach the new GEAR UP manager, Joe. L. LeDesma, call (760) 744-1150 x3620 or email [email protected]. To learn more about GEAR UP, visit http://www.palomar.edu/gearup.

For more information, parents of eighth-graders at Potter Jr. High for the 2018-2019 school year can contact Outreach Coordinator Lupita Guerrero at [email protected] or (760) 731-4150 x9764, and parents of ninth-graders at Fallbrook High can contact Outreach Coordinator Elizabeth Alvarado at [email protected] or (760) 723-6300.

Submitted by Palomar College GEAR UP Partnership Program.