Gear Up

GEAR UP — Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs — is a federally funded grant program that follows a single cohort of students from middle school through their first year of college. Mount Vernon's current GEAR UP grant supports today's 6th-8th graders all the way through high school graduation and into postsecondary education.

GEAR UP gives students experiences and supports that make college feel real, achievable, and worth working toward:

• Mentoring from college-prep advisors who know each student by name
• Academic planning and tutoring tuned to where each student is
• Career exploration and college visits across Washington State
• Field trips and specialized events — from STEM days to leadership conferences
• Family workshops so parents and guardians have the information they need too