Happy New Year!

BLOG POST

This month's blog was written by Kat Burdick, GEAR UP First Year College Advisor with the University of Nevada, Las Vegasl! You can read it here!

MAD-Learn 1-Day Camps!

Jan. 31- Feb. 3 and Mar. 20 - 23

This spring semester, we are very excited to be bringing a 1-Day MAD-Learn Mobile App Development Camp to each GEAR UP high school. This was made possible by a very generous donation from NSHE. These camps will run in two sessions. The first session is with CCSD from January 31st - February 3rd. The sessions will begin at Bonanza with two half sessions after school on Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 31/Feb. 1st from 1:30 - 4:00. On Friday, Feb. 2nd, Durango will host their camp from 8:00 - 1:10, and on Saturday, February 3rd, Clark will host their session. Times are still TBD. Then a few weeks later, on Wednesday, March 20, from 9:00 - 3:00, MAD-Learn returns to Mineral County High School for their second MAD-Learn App Development Camp. Next we jump to Pahrump Valley, where they will hold their camp on Friday, March 22nd and finally, on Saturday, March 23, ASPIRE will hold their first camp with MAD-Learn. Times for these sessions are TBD. The flexibility of our schools and the MAD-Learn staff to make the possibility of bringing a camp to each of our GEAR UP schools is greatly appreciated!

Apply Nevada FAFSA Nights

Spring 2024

Apply Nevada is a county-wide effort between CCSD, the Treasurer's Office, UNLV, CSN, NSU, and NSHE to schedule FAFSA Completion events throughout Las Vegas. These events are designed to assist in the scheduling of events due to the limited number of available financial aid staff. The three GEAR UP Nevada high schools will participate as host schools. These events will be held in February and early March following the "soft launch" of the new, simplified FAFSA form. These events are in addition to the January events previously scheduled. The schedule is as follows. All events run 5:30 - 7:00 pm:

Wednesday, February 7th - Durango HS

Wednesday, February 21st - Bonanza HS

Wednesday, March 6th - Clark.

NCCEP 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. They have quite a variety of topics planned. This conference will remain a virtual event which means it will be more affordable to attend without the additional travel expenses. For more information and/or to register, visit: https://www.edpartnerships.org/academy?mc_cid=92b86ef8f3&mc_eid=0b746f344f

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!

New Year! New Staff!

We are starting off the new year by introducing a few new staff members! Please help us to welcome Joy, Meshanna, and Kelly!

Welcome Joy, Our Newest FYCA!

Joy Cooper recently joined Nevada State University (NSU) as the newest First Year College Advisor! During her undergraduate career, Joy served as a military police soldier in the Nevada Army National Guard, was a charter member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority’s Eta Rho chapter, and was a recipient of the 2023 Lance and Elena Calvert Award for Undergraduate Research in the Creative Works category. Joy graduated from NSU in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Coming from a family of educators, Joy has always believed in the value of education and the importance of socio-emotional health for students and their success.

We are so happy to have you on board, Joy!

Welcome Back to Meshanna!!

We are happy to report that Mineral County High School has a new GEAR UP Specialist - Meshanna Merrow! For those of us who have been with GEAR UP Nevada for while will remember Meshanna from the last grant. She was the SPIF for Mineral County. Meshanna is excited to be back with GEAR UP,! Meshanna enjoys helping students follow their dreams and achieve their goals! She is currently working toward a degree in Secondary Education - Mathematics.

We are thrilled to have you back on the team, Meshanna!

Welcome Kelly to Clark High School!

Kelly is the new GEAR UP Specialist at Clark High School. She moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and joined CCSD the following year teaching both science and computers at both the middle and high school levels. She previously earned her bachelor's degree in Secondary Education/Biology-General Science from Slippery Rock University and later completed a master's degree from Lesley University. In 2020, she went back to school and earned another master's in School Counseling from Touro University in Las Vegas. Kelly is looking forward to working with the GEAR UP team providing the assistance she wishes she had as a student.

Welcome to GEAR UP, Kelly!

More About Morgan!

Shout out to CSN First Year College Advisor, Morgan Haynes for agreeing to be our staff interview this month!!

What is your favorite GEAR UP service/activity and why?

My favorite GEAR UP service would be our fall and spring fairs. It's my favorite because we get to talk with so many students and we have all our First Year College Advisors together from the other NSHE institutions. 

Tell us a little bit about your coaching experience.: My experience coaching has been great and is something that I really enjoy. It’s challenging in that everyone is unique and may need to be approached differently and it is rewarding to see their successes. 

What advice would you give your younger self?: The biggest piece of advice I would give my younger self would be to network, network, network. Building connections and improving networking skills is important when starting college and will help out a lot when moving into the professional world. I wish I had started and gotten more comfortable with networking when I first started college. 

If you were creating a bucket list, what would be the first thing you would put on it?: The first thing on my bucket list would be skydiving!

Do you have any GEAR UP goals for yourself in 2024?: My top goal for GEAR UP in 2024 is to have a high retention rate for my First-Year GEAR UP Students at CSN. I want to make sure that they continue to work on their education by moving forward to their next semester of college. 

Give us a fun fact about Morgan!: Fun fact about me is I’m ambidextrous. 

February Awareness Calendar