We are All #UNLVStrong

BLOG POST

This month's blog was written by Jana Burd, GEAR UP College Coordinator with Nevada System of Higher Educationl! You can read it here!

FAFSA Nights

January 2024

While we still do not know exactly when the new streamlined FAFSA will be released, our staff is busy anticipating the upcoming FAFSA completion season and has scheduled the initial events as listed below:

Bonanza - January 16, 5:00-7:00 PM

Clark - January 17,

5:00 - 7:00 PM

Durango - January 18, 5:00 - 7:00 PM

CSN - January 19, Times TBD

UNR - January 20, Times TBD

NCCEP National GEAR UP Academy

February 12th-15th

Registration is OPEN! The annual NCCEP National GEAR UP Academy, formerly the Capacity Building Workshop is a chance to dive deeper into various topics of interest. This conference will remain a virtual event which means it will be more affordable to attend without the additional travel expenses. Janet Stake, Director, NSHE GEAR UP Programming and Outreach is slated to present a communications discussion lab session titled, "Communications Strategies by Audience: What Works for You?". She will be working with NCCEP's Jackie Mania. For more information and/or to register, visit: https://www.edpartnerships.org/academy?mc_cid=92b86ef8f3&mc_eid=0b746f344f

NCCEP National Conference

July 21-24

The submission date for conference breakout session proposals closed on December 15th. If you submitted a proposal, you will be notified if your session was selected in April. Registration for the conference will open in May. For more information, please visit: https://www.edpartnerships.org/annual

Social Media

(For all students, parents, staff and supporters)

Don't forget to like and follow @gearupnv on any or all of our social media platforms! You can use the icons above to access the GEAR UP accounts. We would love for you to tag us and interact whenever possible!

CCA Conference!

The 2023 Complete College America (CCA) Annual Conference was held last week in Las Vegas! The theme of the conference was "Future Ready". The state of Nevada was well represented with over 100 attendees, most from the various NSHE institutions. a few GEAR UP colleagues were there as well. CCA is known for its rather innovative approaches to college completion. In fact, Nevada has been working with CCA for a number of years and is the impetus for the 15 to Finish campaign and the more recent corequisite remediation policies for English and math. The 15 to Finish campaign is in reference to students in college. If they take 15 credits per semester, they can mostly likely finish their degree in four years. The corequisite remediation policies went into effect in the NSHE colleges in fall 2021. This approach removes the string of remediation classes in exchange for starting a student in a college level course along with just in time support. This model has proven quite effective in other states, and now in Nevada! One highlight of the conference was a session where our very own NSHE GEAR UP PI, Renee Davis, along with CSN's Vice President, Academic Affairs, James McCoy released the impressive Nevada statistics. Another was a panel discussion with WNC's President, Kyle Dalpe, NSU's President DeRionne Pollard, and CSN's President Federico Zaragosa. It was very interesting to hear their thoughts about the future of higher education.

So Long Kristy!

We are sorry we have to say good-bye to Kristy Bekiares, the GEAR UP Specialist at Mineral County High School (MCHS). Kristy will be leaving the GEAR UP program effective in early January to spend more time with her family. We appreciate everything she has done for the students and families at MCHS and for the GEAR UP Nevada program!

Thank you Kristy! You will be missed!

Mental Health First Aid Professional Development

The NSHE FYCA team began a new professional development opportunity, the Mental Health First Aid program. GEAR UP ASPIRE Director, Nicole Stella is a facilitator for this program and she is leading this endeavor. Unlike prior professional development opportunities for the NSHE team, this one is more in-depth and requires longer hours. Once completed, each participant will be certified in the program. There is so much need for help with mental health in our state, this seemed like the perfect program to bring to the staff.

January Awareness Calendar