Future News FROM OYOF
Volume 1 | Issue 3 | Winter 2012
GEAR UP… Yep, There’s an App for That!
Getting ready to apply to college? Well, now there’s an app for that. One that happened to be developed exclusively through the Texas GEAR UP program, to be specific. Students can now learn how to navigate the tricky college-application process with a tool they probably already have in their pocket.
The Own Your Own Future app is available for iPhone and Android—and is completely free to use.
The Own Your Own Future app is available for iPhone and Android—and is completely free to use. Created as a companion to Texas GEAR UP’s Own Your Own Future website, the app offers up a plethora of helpful resources, including a college-prep checklist, videos, quizzes, college profiles, month-by-month topics of focus for seniors, and much more. There are even opportunities for students to earn points by checking in at campus tours, admissions offices and other college-related events. (Because really, who doesn’t love earning points?)
What are you waiting for? Download the app in the iTunes App Store or the Android Market today!
Learn more...New 2011 GEAR UP Grant Awards in Texas
What a great way to start the new year! In the latest round of funding, Texas received seven GEAR UP grant awards that will serve 253 middle and high school campuses across 80 school districts. With two of the awards among the largest in the country, these grants will benefit a total of 18,400 students between them. The total award for all new Texas grantees is over $110 million, bringing the state total for all GEAR UP partnership and state grants to well over $38 million. This means that more than 57,455 students will be involved in GEAR UP college readiness and preparation activities at Texas schools and universities.
And special congratulations to the newest grantee in Texas—the Education Service Center Region 12 College Link Program located in Waco received their first award!
"We are thrilled that the Education Service Center has been awarded the opportunity to be a part of the ‘GEAR UP family’,” said Sharon Henson, Deputy Director of School Support & Grant Services at ESC Region 12. “This grant will enable us to prepare over 6,000 students in Region 12 to be college ready."
We also applaud these former grantees who received new awards:
- Region One ESC GEAR UP – Ready, Set, College! (Edinburg, TX)
- Texas A&M International University – Creating a Vision IV GEAR UP (Laredo, TX)
- San Antonio ISD – GU2 Program (San Antonio, TX)
- University of Texas at El Paso – SOAR: Solutions for Optimal Academic Readiness (El Paso, TX)
- Stephen F. Austin State University – East Texas GEAR UP for Success (Nacogdoches, TX)
- Sul Ross State University – Project ReACH: Realizing and Achieving Collegiate Heights (Alpine, TX)
Texas GEAR UP congratulates all the new 2011 grantees, and we are thrilled to welcome Sharon and ESC Region 12 into one of the most exciting programs around!
Read about the new grantees...College Readiness in the News
There is more to college readiness than curriculum, instruction and test scores. Because they have such a huge influence on their students, teachers, and counselors need to think about how their students experience school, and how that experience will have long-term consequences on their academic and professional lives.
Coming soon... Check for the 2011 Tell Us Your Story, GEAR UP! essay contest winners to be posted on texasgearup.com in the coming weeks.
Save the date for the NCCEP/GEAR UP Capacity-Building Workshop –February 12-15, 2012 in New York City.
