February - A Month for Heart and Purpose

BLOG POST

Continuing with our new feature this year for our blog, writers can write a blog or tell us their Top 5! This month we are featuring a blog from Bryan Walker, Education Program Professional at NDE. You can read it here!

College and Career Fairs!!

February, March, and April

It's that time of year again! Although some schools elected to have their college and career fairs in the fall, others have scheduled them for spring. These larger events are usually well attended by students as well as community members. Currently, the schedule is as follows:

MCHS - February 25th

PVHS - March 11th

Clark - April TBD

NDE Open Meetings

Spring 2026

Beginning in December, NDE started offering open meeting times on the second Monday of the month at 11:00 a.m. These are not required meetings for any staff members. This is a time for anyone that has questions or would like to know more about the upcoming renewal application period. NDE wants to be transparent about the process and will use this time to address staff questions as best as they can at the time.

2nd Annual Nevada FAFSA Challenge

October - March

The competition is ON! As previously mentioned, the competition planning committee is working on some upgrades for the competition and for FAFSA completion in general. We should be able to release more information on the updates soon. This year, there are more chances to win with the three winners based on senior class size: small 1-199, medium 200-499, and large 500+. More information is available on the website: https://apply.nevada.edu/fafsa-challenge/. Can a GEAR UP school win again?

Social Media

(For all students, parents, staff and supporters)

If you have any suggestions for our social media, let Jana or Janet know! We are open to new ideas to help grow our following! 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!

GEAR UP Academy Wrap UP!

February is traditionally when NCCEP offers it's second large conference opportunity and this year, it was no different. Now offered only virtually, the National GEAR UP Academy still manages to offer a vast array of information and breakout sessions giving attendees/GEAR UP programs a lot of takeaways, ideas, and best practices. There is something for everyone, from those that are brand new to the program, provide direct services, work with data, or are a director/administration, you can find interesting topics for your role. Most often sessions are led by current grantees and/or partners. Of course, they also offer amazing and inspirational keynote speakers each morning to kick off each day. Congrats to our very own, Jana Burd who offered a session on student engagement. This year, there was also a focus on GEAR UP alumni which was an added bonus.

NDE Spring Staff Training Recap

NDE recently held it's annual spring training. The day was filled with information regarding the work that is being done for the upcoming new grant application/competition. Of particular interest was the counties that meet the free and reduced lunch eligibility for GEAR UP. Other topics included updated/corrected data on a number of our desired outcomes. So far, our program is looking very strong. NDE would appreciate additional feedback on the outcomes to help them determine what the outcomes for the new grant application will be. Another important topic was regarding the Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) during the NCCEP national conference in July. We have applied for 5 student slots, for one student from each high school but we only received 4 slots. The fifth will be waitlisted. The selection process will be up to the Specialists at each of the schools. Each school may have it's own way of determining the potential attendees. Lastly, we had a presentation from Dr. Brad Marianno, the Faculty Director of UNLV's Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (CREA) office. CREA conducted a GEAR UP climate survey, the results of which were discussed during this presentation.

So Long Vannessa!

We are sad to say good-bye to Vannessa Apo, GEAR UP Specialist at Bonanza High School. Vannessa will be moving on to a counseling position at Canyon Springs High School.

We certainly are sorry to see Vannessa leave the program but we are happy that she found a new role and can continue her interest in helping students. We wish you the best of luck in your new role, Vannessa!

Another Fun NSHE Team Building Day!

January 27th was the fourth annual NSHE Team Building Day held at the NSHE office in Las Vegas. This year, the team was able to meet in-person which was really nice. In addition to our monthly FYCA meeting, Mario Rodriguez, our interim ASPIRE director, led a session on True Colors. This is a personality assessment that helps with enhancing personal connections. Within the group, we had staff that fell into all four color groups. After lunch, the team spent quite a bit of time learning and discussing AI technology, how we are using it currently and how we can use it to make our jobs easier or more organized. When it comes to AI, there is more to do and learn but hopefully we will be able to find ways to help us do our jobs in meaningful ways. The day ended with sharing a memory book which included a number of the team's favorite memories and several pictures. All former NSHE staff members from over the years were highlighted in the book as well. Overall, it was a nice time together filled with good conversation, sharing great ideas, and having a few laughs along the way.

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