4/20/2010 - Jackson, Miss.

GEAR UP Mississippi (MS) students across the state are growing up – and the Web site created to provide them with additional college readiness resources is too.

The recently-launched revised GEAR UP MS site for students includes information about how to be successful in high school, links to Mississippi’s private and public two- and four-year universities, colleges and community colleges, and an explanation about why getting a degree matters.

Students in GEAR UP MS cohorts at the 49 schools and 20 districts that have applied to participate will enter the ninth grade – high school – in fall 2010. The federal college access program has tracked these students since their seventh grade year and will continue through graduation day. Participating districts must have at least 50 percent of students on free and reduced lunch.

“We have made the revised site more relevant for our cohort of students, as well as their teachers and parents,” said Nira Coleman-Johnson, State Director of GEAR UP MS. “All the information is aimed at helping students make choices that will allow them to achieve their education goals.”

The revised site also includes college readiness information for teachers and parents, videos of recent GEAR UP MS TV and radio commercials, and links to member schools. Forms and other information needed to participate in activities are also available on the site.

“We want to make it easy as possible for people to access the information they need to make plans for getting an education beyond high school,” Coleman-Johnson said.

For more information or to view the revised site at http://www.gearupms.org/.

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GEAR UP Mississippi (MS) operates as part of the Institutions of Higher Learning, Office of Academic and Student Affairs, in collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Education, State Board for Community and Junior Colleges and community and national partners.

GEAR UP MS actively encourages students to set high academic expectations, stay in school, study hard, and take courses that will prepare them to enter and succeed in college. The program provides educational support services to our partner schools throughout Mississippi.

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