Gear Up| GEAR UP at Garrison |
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Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs Motto - College: It's Not a Dream! It's a PLAN! WSU "Harvest of Hope" Project Partners GEAR UP Mission - To ensure that all middle school students in a GEAR UP project cohort (7th and 8th grade students) are prepared to pursue post secondary education. Student Achievement Specialists - SASGarrison Middle School along with the GEAR UP Staff is launching a new program that will include Student Achievement Specialists to provide encouragement, academic support and transitional support to our 7th and 8th grade students. Our goal is to build strong, supportive relationships with our students here at Garrison, while also supporting them through the transition to Walla Walla High School and throughout their years at the high school level.
The GEAR UP staff of Jerri Grant, Lauren Hemenway and Miriam Garber will be working closely with the Garrison Teachers and Student Service Team (Mr. Wolcott, Mrs. Baker, Mr.Pitzer & Mr. Hernandez) to monitor and support students in their school success through the following activities:
We are excited to begin this program and begin working intentionally with our students for their success. Field Trip Friday, February 19th, Garrison Middle School GEAR UP Tutor Lauren Hemenway accompanied Mrs. Clearman's combined classes on a field trip to an "earth house". Forty seven students along with six chaperones attended. Constructed by a local builder and father of a 7th grade Garrison student, the house sits partially submerged in the ground, upland of Yellowhawk creek. Made primarily of recycled materials, the house uses various forms of "green" construction. The students were assigned the task of creating questions prior to visiting the home. The builder greeted the students, parents, and staff outside the home and spent twenty minutes talking about the building process and answering many of the students' questions. Two groups took turns roaming the creek-side landscaping and touring the interior of the home. The students had more questions than could be answered in the time allotted and seemed fascinated with the home. The trip provided them with an opportunity to experience alternative architecture first hand and gave GEAR UP Tutor Lauren a chance to connect with students outside of her regular scheduled classes. Freshman 101 Eighth grade Garrison Middle School students participated in the GEAR UP Freshman 101 course. The morning activities included hearing from Wa-Hi Associate Principal, Mira Gobel, a High School panel, a College panel and learning about the Wa-Hi LINK Crew program. Freshman 101 was an interactive program designed to educate, excite and prepare current 8th grade students for their first year in high school. In the session, "Freshman 101" students were introduced to the LINK Crew program at Wa-Hi where a freshman is linked with a junior or senior student prior to the first day of school. This provides a connection to the school and other classmates, giving the new freshman a new found confidence in their high school experience and more relation to their peers. In the "High School Panel" session, students were able to ask questions to current high school students. The panel of four students, two girls and two boys, formerly Garrison students, encouraged the 8th graders to get involved in activities to make their high school experience more fun. They gave advice on using a planner and encouraged the 8th graders to get in a good habit of doing homework on time and managing their time. A poignant piece of advice was simply put as "Start strong! Start your freshman year trying to get a 4.0 so when you're a senior you're not trying to raise your GPA in three quarters." During the college panel, several of the students asked about college life and the experiences of college. The panel responded with honest examples of what the dormitory life is like, what a fraternity is like and how their abroad experiences are memorable and life changing while they are looking forward to their future traveling plans. The college students encouraged the 8th graders to take advantage of the many opportunities to get involved and the opportunities to go abroad. Two of the panelists shared their summer plans to study economics in London and another to study Spanish in Costa Rica. The fourth and final presentation the student heard was "Why High School Matters", this was presented by Wa-Hi Assistant Principal, Mira Gobel. Her theme and passion was for gearing up the students to dream and then to begin taking steps towards those dreams and goals. She began with an exercise, asking the students to think about where they wanted to be in 15 years. This drew the students out of their current reality and into their personal goals and dreams of who they wanted to be and helped them think about what they wanted to be doing. She shared information about high school success and its importance as well as the benefits of going further in education. One of the distinct areas that she expanded on was the income differences between high school drop outs, high school graduates and those who pursued some form of higher education. Gobel encouraged students to begin strong as freshmen because their actions, grades, and creating goals all affect the making of these dreams come true. Freshman 101 was a success; the students were engaged, involved and learned about the high school freshman experience. This event helped them prepare for the challenge of high school while encouraging them to pursue the goals of their hearts.
Project Objectives1) Improve and accelerate student's academic achievement so they are prepared to enter and succeed in post secondary education. By assisting with trained tutors in classrooms and an after school program from 3:00-6:00PM Monday-Thursday. 2) Educate students and their families about post secondary education and help them learn to plan. WWCC is hiring a Community/Family Coordinator for this position. 3) Improve the motivation and capacity of teachers to help students improve and accelerate their learning to higher standards. Mr. Sporleder is working on obtaining money from the grant to assist in teacher training. 4) Build strategic alliance of partners to build capacity to sustain these efforts significantly beyond the grant period. Gear Up will have multiple partners collaborating for project success such as; YMCA, CCY, YWCA, and others, to establish a positive rapport in the community. Direct Services for Students1) After School Program Serve 25% of each class for 130 hours for each student. This comes to about 110 students for 130 hours each. 2) Trained tutors to assist, during, after school, summer, field trips, and some holidays. 3) Incentive educational field trips. A trip to U of W for 30-40 students staying a week in college dorms to experience what it would be like. Gear up is also going to tie in with The Weekend field trip to Camp Wooten, and the field trip for the 7th graders to Seattle on Oceanography. 4) Leadership opportunities through community service activities. 5) Student Portfolios - captured on CD Rom. 6) Technology - computers, software and specialized training (PLATO, Lightspan)
Garrison's GEAR UP Staff 2009-2010Site Director: Jerri Grant |
