NCCEP

Last week, GEAR UP communities across the country came together to celebrate the wins, the students, and the families at the heart of this work.

From Oklahoma City’s first-ever GEAR UP Week proclamation to thousands of Milwaukee students filling a major league ballpark to kick off their GEAR UP journey, it was a week to remember!

Check out our recap for more of our favorite moments 🔗 Link in bio

We’re closing out this year’s National GEAR UP Week with one final round of community highlights! 🎉 This time, Oregon GEAR UP is showing some love to the heroes moving the needle in their community. From student-facing educators to the brilliant minds behind the scenes who keep the program running, every one of them is a GEAR UP Hero. ✨

Thank you for all you do, and thank you, GEAR UP community, for celebrating with us this week!

Day four, and the GEAR UP community is still lighting the way! ✨ Meet Christina, who helps make GEAR UP possible, and Ma’Kiyah-Imari and Karen, two Rising Stars who show what GEAR UP can do.
🌟 Christina Ingrum (Colorado GEAR UP ) has kept a large team focused through four grant cycles. She never lets anyone forget the students behind every report, and she makes sure her team feels seen too.
🌟 Ma’Kiyah-Imari Mitchell (Winston-Salem State University ) leads student organizations on campus and still makes time to mentor the students coming up behind her. GEAR UP’s impact doesn’t stop at graduation!
🌟 Karen Sanchez (Cal State Monterey Bay ) arrived from Mexico at age 8 speaking only Spanish. Today she’s a first-generation student at UC Davis and tutors at Barrios Unidos, the same place that once helped her.

From Rising Stars to everyday heroes, these are the people who light the way. Join us tomorrow as we close out National GEAR UP Week!

Our National GEAR UP Week celebration continues with a few more people we’re proud to recognize!

🌟 Braytan McKay (GEAR UP Idaho 4) is always the first to volunteer and makes sure everyone gets heard. Still in middle school, and already leading like the adults in the room.
🌟 Kevin Perry (Fort Wayne Community Schools GEAR UP) closed out camp by asking for the mic to thank the staff, partners, and volunteers who made it happen. Nobody asked him to. He just thought it mattered.
🌟 Luis González Mendoza (NCCEP) has shaped how the GEAR UP community shows up to the world, always believing our stories deserve to be seen.

There’s so much more to celebrate! Stay tuned for more Rising Stars and GEAR UP Heroes tomorrow and Fridays✨

As we continue celebrating the GEAR UP Rising Stars and Heroes who make , we’re highlighting three people showing up for students every day:

🌟 Briana Robbins graduated from GEAR UP and came right back to lead the same college-readiness workshops she once attended, all while balancing Honors College at NC A&T and a job at Amazon.

🌟 Rebecca Dhanarine oversees GEAR UP across 35 schools in South Carolina and still finds a way to show up for every student.

🌟 Alan Cruz helped rebuild NJCU’s GEAR UP Pre-College Program from the brink of closing into one known for HBCU trips, packed graduations, and a director who shows up everywhere.

Swipe through to meet them, and tag a GEAR UP hero in your life! 👇

Savion Davis is a Detroit native, Osborn High School’s Class of 2026 Valedictorian, and a first-gen college student who navigated significant financial and family challenges on his way to Howard.

He was one of more than 500 incoming students who learned on July 22 that they’d been disenrolled. Savion kept pushing, and with support from his Osborn High School staff and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor GEAR UP team Center for Educational Outreach • University of Michigan , the Howard University Alumni Club of Detroit welcomed him into their community with a scholarship, a laptop, school supplies, and move-in support. They also helped advocate for his reinstatement.

Savion did the work, and now he’s living the result.

Stay tuned this week as we get to know more GEAR UP Rising Stars and Heroes! 🌟

“College is where I grew as a person, intellectually, emotionally, socially,” reflects Dana Beck, Director of Practice at NCCEP and a Wesleyan University alumna. New ideas, new people, new experiences: college set her on a path toward work that is meaningful and important.

For Adriana Feijoo, Coordinator of Programs and Operations at NCCEP and a George Washington University alumna, college was life-changing. Immersing herself in political studies in Washington, DC expanded her perspective and fueled a passion for student success, one that led her directly to a master’s in higher education.

Share your own story today!

Today, NCCEP is proud to celebrate and join students, educators, and families across the country in honoring the college application journey. 🎓

For Jackie Mania, Ed.D., Director of Research and Evaluation at NCCEP and a University of Oklahoma alumna, college meant something transformative: access to lifelong mentors and networks that changed the course of her life. As a first-generation college student from a rural community, applying to college opened doors she never knew existed.

Every application is a first step toward possibility. Here’s to the students writing their own stories this season. We’re cheering you on.

🎉 Join NCCEP in celebrating Day on September 18!

We’re standing with ACAC ’s Day, a nationwide celebration reminding students that applying to college is within reach.

Get ready to celebrate with the GEAR UP community. Prep now and use our templates to join in. 💙🎓