February ~ Warm and Cool!

BLOG POST

This month's blog is not a blog! We are featuring an interview with Jen Hagstrom, GEAR UP Specialist at Pahrump Valley High School! You can read it here!

FREEZE!

As wonderful and enthusiastic as we were to be together for the NDE spring training (see article to the right), there was a bit of a damper on the event due to the announcement of the federal freeze on federal grants. This occurred on the second day of the event which after a flurry of emails, took Javier and Arian away to attend an emergency meeting. This resulted in our time being cut a little short as most of us had more immediate concerns to manage. Fortunately, as we all know, that memo was rescinded although the general effort has not been abandoned. This coming so soon after the concerns about mixed status families completing the FAFSA has left many of us with higher levels of uncertainty as we try to navigate our roles. Per NDE, we need to keep moving forward until we are told otherwise. There is no doubt, our team will rise to overcome these challenges and continue to help our students to the best of our abilities. Hang in there team! #GEARUPWorks!!

College and Career Fairs

March and April

March and April are shaping up to be exciting months! Our annual College and Career Fairs at each of the GEAR UP high schools have been scheduled. This event tends to be some of the largest and well attended events that are enjoyed by the students and guests alike. Employers, organizations, and college representatives are all on board. Unfortunately, the folks at MCHS have postponed their March 12th fair until sometime mostly likely in April. Currently the tentative date is April 23rd. Stay tuned....

The schedule is:

Bonanza: March 4th, 7:45-11:45

PVHS: March 5th,

9:00-1:30

Durango: March 6th, 9:15-12:30

Clark: March 7th, 10:00-1:30

MCHS, April 23 (tentative), times TBD.

So Long STEM Committee

Yes, it is true. After a discussion with NDE, it was decided that the STEM Committee will no longer be meeting separately. Instead, we will be adding a STEM section to the Collaboration Meeting agenda for each month. The goal will be to give updates or information on new STEM ideas or contacts. Thank you to Nicole Stella, who has been the facilitator for this committee since it's inception, Vannessa Apo, Arian Katsimbras, and Janet Stake for serving on this committee.

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!

NDE Staff Training

Our favorite NDE admins put together an interesting and informative agenda for our annual spring training which took place on January 27th and 28th on the CSN campus. Just about all of the NVGU team was on hand for learning and collaboration. For the most part, it was a very enthusiastic gathering of long term, collegial colleagues. Highlights included a session from Brenda Romero who is with the Multicultural Affairs Department as the Coordinator for Undocumented Students at CSN. She taught a session about the various types of immigration statuses and how they impact financial aid. We also had an introductory session on Dependable Strengths from our very own Jana Burd, who was at that time, going through the training to become a facilitator. Jana led us in a very moving exercise where our colleagues helped us to identify our strengths. We were also treated each day to a delicious lunch from Chipotle. Thanks to Javier Smith, Arian Katsimbras, and Josh Loftis for planning and executing this event. Special thanks to CSN PI, Yvonne Jackson who was instrumental in arranging the space for us to meet and helped us with tech issues too.

Celebrating Our Stars

The annual NSHE Team Building Day was held beginning immediately following the NDE training on January 28th at CSN West Charleston and again on January 29th at the NSHE office on Maryland Parkway. The agenda had a lot of professional development as well as lunch together and a little bit of fun woven in. During the RFP process for Year 6, several FYCAs wanted to attend a NACADA conference but funding didn't allow for all to go. Kelly Briggs, FYCA at GBC has several years experience as an academic advisor so she was a primary presenter on this topic each day. TMCC's FYCA, Jairon Castellanos Boteo who is interested in financial literacy, was scheduled to present on Financial Psychology. Unfortunately, he became quite ill and was not able to make it for the second day. We're happy to say, he is feeling better and we will schedule that session at a later date. Janet Stake led the team in a fun SEL/art therapy watercolor painting session called neurographic art, and the team building culminated in our annual peer recognition exercise results. This year our theme was "Celebrating Our Stars". Each team member voted for their colleagues on an assortment of "awards" such as Most Likely to Brighten Your Day, Most Likely to Run a College, and Best Laugh, to name a few. In spite of some of the uncertainty of our times, the team came together and made the most of our limited time together.

NCCEP GEAR UP Academy

The second annual NCCEP National GEAR UP Academy was held on February 3rd through the 6th. This was a virtual event. As usual, NCCEP did a fantastic job of selecting motivating key note speakers and offering a wide selection of over 80 conference break out sessions. The planning included a series of sessions specifically addressing certain roles as well as a GEAR UP 101 series for those attendees that are new to GEAR UP. The days included Team Time and an Exhibit Hall for our favorite GEAR UP vendors. There were even sessions for bingo and Zumba! There really was something for everyone! Kudos to Janet Stake for presenting the communications GEAR UP 101 session representing both Nevada and the NCCEP Communications Committee.

March Awareness Calendars