Student Leadership Event 2014

When: August 18-20, 2014
Where: University of Oregon, Eugene
Who: Students currently in 6th-11th grades. There will be two concurrent sessions, both facilitated by Gear Up for Excellence. A Middle School Session for current 6th and 7th graders and a High School Session: for current 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th graders.

We encourage you to bring students who have not attended this event before, but returning attendees are also welcome. We are not limiting registration this year.

GEAR UP will provide meals – dinner on day one through lunch on day three – and lodging in the dorms. Students will be in double rooms, chaperones will be in single rooms.

Schools need to provide chaperones, travel to and from the event (including coordination with students/families so that they are aware of the transportation plans), and a stipend to chaperones, if necessary.

Register your students by June 11 at http://gearup.ous.edu/events/register/40.

Additional Information:

• Poster
• Draft Agenda
• Leadership Q&A
• Chaperone Guidelines 
• Photo Release

Questions? E-mail anne_stephens@ous.edu.

Alumni Leader Available for Presentations

Meet Elizabeth, Oregon's GEAR UP Alumni Leader for 2013-14. Part of her duties are to serve as a motivational speaker for students and hopefully you've seen (and used!) some of her monthly videos with advice for future college students.

Elizabeth is also available (depending on her class schedule!) to meet with your students who might be visiting Oregon State University. She can answer questions and talk with students during lunch, or hold a more in-depth presentation and activity about educational attainment and budgeting. She can also talk with students (elementary, middle or high school) via Skype.

If you're interested in any of these opportunities throughout the year, please contact Dana. We are also working with OSU Precollege Programs for the more in-depth presentations and student panels.

Student Leadership Opportunity - Bring Justin and Greg to Your School!

Justin Boudreau and Greg Evans have traveled the world conducting student workshops, including our very own GEAR UP Student Leadership Event. Justin and Greg are available the week of October 28 – November 1, 2013 to conduct one-day Student Leadership Events at 5 Oregon GEAR UP schools. In addition to the student leadership component, Greg Evans could conduct a 1 -2 hour workshop for educators. 

Student Leadership Event Registration

Student Leadership Event * Western Oregon University * August 13-15, 2013

The registration page for the GEAR UP Student Leadership Event is now up and running. Please register your selected students no later than Friday, May 17 at http://gearup.ous.edu/events/register/35. 

This year’s GEAR UP Student Leadership Event will consist of two sessions. 

• Middle School Session:  for current 6^th and 7^th graders. Preference will be given to students who have not attended this event in the past.  
• High School Session: for current 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th graders. Preference will be given to students who did not attend the “returning student” session last year.  Note: attendance at a previous GEAR UP Student Leadership Event is not a prerequisite for this level.

More information can be found on the draft agenda, the Q&A sheet, and chaperone guidelines. 

Each cluster is invited to register up to 5 students for each session. You may also register an additional 7 students in the alternates section of the registration page. If we do not fill the event with the initial registration, students from the alternate lists will be admitted. To assist in your selection process, we are asking interested students to complete the attached application and return it to their GEAR UP coordinator. The GEAR UP office does not need copies of the applications. (We will need copies of photo releases, however!)

If you still have questions after reviewing the attached documents, please don’t hesitate to ask (anne_stephens@ous.edu or 541-968-7189).

Student of the Month AND National Youth Congress Applications

GEAR UP National Youth Congress, 2012

Nominate an 8th-12th grade student (or students) for the National Youth Congress program which will run during the National Conference in San Francisco, CA from July 14-17. Led by Gear Up for Excellence, the same team that does Oregon GEAR UP's Student Leadership Event, the Youth Congress is a youth leadership program that implements a student-focused curriculum, blending leadership development with life skills and strategies for increased learning. GEAR UP will pay the registration, airfare and hotel for up to 5 students from the state. If a student is selected, the school agrees to chaperone the student including any additional costs. Students you select should fill out this short application form and send a photo release to stephanie_carnahan@ous.edu by April 19.

Preference for the Youth Congress will be given to students who have been nominated for Student of the Month, so take this chance to honor students that have demonstrated determination, leadership, teamwork, or overcome adversity. If you think a student is impressive and on track for college success, we want to hear about it (in 250 words or less). Nominate a student by April 19!

Student Leadership Event Applications

Oregon GEAR UP Student Leadership Event
Western Oregon University
August 13-15, 2013 

High fives for the Student Leadership Event!

This year’s GEAR UP Student Leadership Event will be held August 13-15, 2013 at Western Oregon University. There will be two sessions, both facilitated by Gear Up for Excellence:

• Middle School Session: for current 6th and 7th graders. Preference will be given to students who have not attended this event in the past.
• High School Session: for current 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. Preference will be given to students who did not attend the “returning student” session last year. Note: attendance at a previous GEAR UP Student Leadership Event is not a prerequisite for this session.

Each cluster is invited to register up to 5 students and list up to 7 alternates for each level. If we do not fill the event with the initial registration, students from the alternate lists will be admitted. To assist in your selection process, we are asking interested students to complete the application and return it to their GEAR UP coordinator. (For your convenience, there are also posters/handouts for students as well as photo releases.)

GEAR UP will provide meals – dinner on day one through lunch on day three – and lodging in the dorms. Students will be in double rooms, chaperones will be in single rooms.

Schools need to provide chaperones, travel to and from the event (including coordination with students/families so that they are aware of the transportation plans), and a stipend to chaperones, if necessary.

Registration and additional event information will be available April 15th.

GEAR UP Week Toolkit - What's YOUR plan?

Start the school year off right with a GEAR UP Week with the theme What’s YOUR plan? at your school! It’s an opportunity to kick-off the year with fun and exciting activities (but without a lot of energy on your part!) that encourage a college-going culture in your school and community. Schools across the country will be celebrating National GEAR UP Week from September 10-14, but you can use these materials at any time that works for you. This toolkit has everything you need—instructions, posters (for editable posters, e-mail dana_beck@ous.edu), announcements—to put on a week of programs designed to get the word out about GEAR UP and the importance of going on to college. Choose to do them all, or just some of the activities—or create your own (maybe a Friendraiser - or some of these 10 ideas?)!

One activity we HIGHLY encourage you to do with your students is write postcards about their plans and the impact of GEAR UP that can be sent on to your elected officials. You will be receiving postcards in the mail soon for students to use.

We will be posting photos, videos, and quotes from students about their plans for after high school during the week of September 10-14 that were taken at our Student Leadership Event.

Student Paths College and Career Curriculum

We are pleased to announce a renewed partnership with Student Paths to provide your high school students with their timely peer-to-peer publications about college, career and life readiness as well as companion curricular pieces to use in advisory, home room, GEAR UP club, or wherever makes the most sense. You can view a sample at www.studentpaths.com/spring2012/pacificnorthwest, and lesson plans and the content plan and calendar for this academic year are available upon request.

Ford Friendraisers

A Friendraiser is an event that brings together the schools and the community to learn more about GEAR UP, get people excited/involved (e.g. sign up some guest speakers, mentors, or volunteers) and introduce the concept of developing a college-going culture.  For example, North Douglas hosted an end-of-year celebration with middle and high school students, parents and community members that included a lunch BBQ and a prize raffle for students and parents who had participated in GEAR UP activities during  the year.

National GEAR UP Week - September 10-14, 2012

The GEAR UP office will be providing you the resources and information to necessary to host fun, free, and low-energy intensive (on your part) events and activities to start the year off right. The tentative schedule includes:

Monday, September 10 - School Door War Decoration Contests
Tuesday, September 11 - GEAR UP T-Shirt Tuesday
Wednesday, September 12 - Trivia Contest
Thursday, September 13 - Postcard Blitz (to members of Congress, local elected officials, etc.)
Friday, September 14 - Door War Winners Announced

In addition to these activities, GEAR UP may have Facebook contests, video premieres, film screenings, and much more!  Feel free to do additional or modified activities as well - the most important thing is to get the word out about GEAR UP.

More information is forthcoming!

GEAR UP Student Leadership Events

Oregon GEAR UP Student Leadership Events

University of Oregon, Eugene

August 13-15 and August 15-17, 2012

Q&A
Draft Agenda
Promotional Posters #1 and #2

The registration page for the GEAR UP Student Leadership Event is now up and running. Please register your selected students no later than Friday, June 1st at http://gearup.ous.edu/events/register/30.

Camp Odyssey

Camp Odyssey is an exciting program for your high school students! It was created several years ago as a way to help students explore diversity and multiculturalism and has been reinvigorated after a few years. It will be held June 17-23 at the 4-H Center in Salem. Beyond the weeklong event during the summer, students will be engaged throughout the school year on projects designed to bring about greater appreciation for our diverse world. 

OSU/GEAR UP Natural Resources Camp

For those clusters participating in OSU's Natural Resources Camp specifically for GEAR UP students, here is the latest to-do.  Questions? Contact katie.neiert@oregonstate.edu.

·        Teacher contacts: If you have not already emailed Katie the teacher/staff member’s contact information that will be bringing your students to campus, please do so as soon as you know. OSU will be contacting everyone receiving the $400 stipend ahead of arrival on campus for some additional paperwork so that check is able to be made out to them in a reasonable amount of time.

·        Paperwork: The students should have their paperwork into you by Friday, May 11^th and needs to be received via snail mail to OSU (239 Covell Hall, Corvallis OR, 97331-1203) by  Friday, May 17^th.

·        Need anything from OSU? They are able to send posters, brochures, hard copies of paperwork if you need it! Just send Katie an email!