College Advising Reflection
Feb 10, 2023
Growing up homeschooled, I hadn’t thought much about college; I had always assumed I would go to school somewhere and probably major in history. By ...
Western Rural Teacher Leader Network Announcement
Feb 1, 2023
The Rural Teacher Leadership Network (RTLN), is designed to bring together diverse groups of educators across North Carolina who seek to str...
GEAR UP & Participate Learning Join Partnership to Focus on Western NC Schools
Jan 17, 2023
A new partnership between GEAR UP and Participate Learning seeks to join forces with 10 western North Carolina school districts to help promote colleg...
Behind the Scenes of First Generation
Jan 9, 2023
Growing up, I knew nothing about college. My mom and dad had me soon after they graduated high school. My dad attended trade school and still is a tru...
Perspective | North Carolina schools are anything but ‘low-performing’
Dec 16, 2022
Over the past three months, our team from the Empowering Teacher Learning (ETL) project at Appalachian State University has been traversing western No...
GEAR UP Hosts Out of This World Family Design Night
Dec 12, 2022
The GEAR UP Academic Innovation Team led by Doug Thompson, Jessica Stockham, and Rachel Nave Lewis facilitated a re...
Swain County GEAR UP Fall College Tour
Nov 23, 2022
Earlier this month, 24 high school seniors from Swain County High School embarked on a statewide college tour led by GEAR UP Coordinator, Ta...
Creating Your Own Path
Nov 18, 2022
Coming from a family history of virtually no one having pursued postsecondary education, I felt a desire to get a headstart on my college career. By m...
Mental Health and College Access
Nov 11, 2022
During my undergraduate degree, I studied psychology. A constant theme throughout all of my classes was that everything in a person’s life flows fro...
October Family Design Night
Nov 4, 2022
Nearly 100 families from Ashe, Burke, Swain, Wilkes, and Yancey County participated in a recent GEAR UP Family Design Night. This year in the Fam...