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The first Pathways to Success GEAR UP summer program benefits Topeka high school students

July 1, 2010

Topeka, Kan. — Seven Topeka high school students graduated from the first Pathways to Success GEAR UP summer program on Wednesday.


The students participated in college campus tours and built academic and career plans.


"The purpose of the summer program is, in essence, to help students imagine their 'possible selves' through career exploration and familiarization with college life," said William Towns, Pathways to Success project coordinator. "It is a program about life's possibilities and how students might gain some traction in making decisions about where to go to college, what to major in, and what to put on their horizons with regard to possible careers or professions."

Kaitlin Roesch, Topeka West high school junior, reads through materials provided by the University of Kansas Career Center during a resume and cover letter writing workshop. Roesch received the Student of Excellence Award for her dedication to the summer program curriculum.


After visiting the University of Kansas campus students said they learned important things about college that they hadn't thought of before.


Yenibet Paredes, Highland Park high school junior, signed up for the summer program because she wanted to learn about possible college and career paths.


"I was originally thinking about going to school out-of-state, but after talking to people at the University of Kansas I realize that's way too expensive of an option for me," Paredes said. "Now I want to stay here, in-state, for college."


Linda Un, Pathways to Success Telementor coordinator, ran the month-long summer program and saw her students' knowledge and maturity-level grow.


"[The students] want to be successful, but do not realize that education, personal awareness and action is necessary," Un said. "Nobody has told them what people go through to reach their goals or at least follow their dreams. I am providing the information and tools to help with that process."


Topeka West high school junior, Kaitlin Roesch changed her career goals because of the summer program. After researching different career goals and college programs, she discovered her interest in nursing.


"I think [nursing] would be a difficult career," Roesch said. "This program has challenged me to think bigger, but also to be realistic about what I am capable of achieving."


Roesch's mother, Tracy, attended the graduation ceremony and said she is very proud of her daughter.


"Because of this summer program, Kaitlin has learned better ways to study, is interested in taking the ACT and SAT and has narrowed her career plans," Tracy said. "I think Kaitlin is really looking forward to participating in the program again next year."


Highland Park high school ends the school year with a career and college fair

Highland Park high school sophomore, Hannah Davis and senior, Jermaine Parker help greet students during the career and college fair.


May 27, 2010

Topeka, Kan. — Family school coordinator, Sherlice Spicer, organized a career and college fair at Highland Park high school on May 6, 2010 to end the 2009-2010 school year.


Nearly all-800 students at the school attended the event. Universities, military branches, technical schools and even police academies had representatives and booths for students to peruse.


But Spicer had help, two GEAR UP students aided Spicer. Highland Park senior, Jermaine Parker and sophomore Hannah Davis helped set up tables, checked people in and passed out cookies.


Both students attended past career and college fairs and benefitted from the knowledge they obtained. Parker and Davis hope to attend the University of Kansas and learned about the classes KU admissions require from high school applicants at a college fair earlier this year.


"I think these kinds of events are beneficial for students," Davis said. "You can find out about new careers."


As well as career services, the fair hosted many local colleges. Baker University, Emporia State University, Kansas State University, University of Kansas and Washburn Institute of Technology all attended.


"If you don't have a plan, coming to an event like this can really help," Parker said. "This will help you make a decision and open your horizon."


Spicer said she believes that it is important for students to know all of their options.


"There are a variety of jobs available to the students," Spicer said. "We need more than just doctors and dentists, we need technicians and computer programmers. I hope through this fair students will find out about careers and programs that are realistic options for them."


Topeka high school family school coordinators have changed GEAR UP students' lives by motivating them to attend college

Topeka high school seniors, Jhonatan Soto, Alejandra Valdez and Cristina Negrete plan to attend Allen Community College next year thanks to their school's GEAR UP family school coordinators.


April 27, 2010

Topeka, Kan. — Topeka high school senior, Jhonatan Soto's parents moved to the United States to ensure that their son had a better life. Next month Soto graduates high school and then he will attend college; something he never thought would happen.


"When I first started high school I didn't think I would be going to college," Soto said. "I thought I'd just go straight into the workforce, but now I'm going to go to Allen Community College and I got a scholarship."


Soto plans to get a 2-year degree from Allen Community College and then transfer to Kansas State University's engineering program if he can get more scholarships. He says none of this would have happened if it were not for Topeka high school's family school coordinators, Dean Pearson and Kareem Thomas.


Pearson and Thomas help many of Soto's classmates. Cristina Negrete, Topeka high school senior, will also attend Allen Community College next fall thanks to their help and some financial aid.


"Ms. Thomas and Mr. Pearson are like our backbones, we know they're always with us and they're there if we need them for anything," Negrete said. "I really appreciate all they've done for me."


Pearson tutored Negrete in chemistry and Thomas helped Negrete file her financial aid forms so she could afford to go to college.


Negrete, like her classmates, will be the first in her family to go to college.


"Because my mom never went to college, she couldn't really help me with things like applications and financial aid," Negrete said. "But now when I'm a parent, I know I'll be able to help my kids because I will have gone to college. It's like each generation gets better than the last."


The students call Pearson and Thomas the "Dream Team" because they are making their dreams become realities.


"I never thought I could be an OBGYN, but Mr. Pearson and Ms. Thomas motivated me to apply to college and showed me how I could do it," Topeka high school senior, Alejandra Valdez said.


Valdez received a $1,000 scholarship to Allen Community College and plans to apply for more scholarships since she gets good grades. Realizing that she could afford college with the help of scholarships motivated Valdez.


"We don't get much motivation to go on to college from our teachers. They're too focused on their jobs and our test scores," Soto said. "Mr. Pearson and Ms. Thomas motivated us when teachers wouldn't."


All three students visited the Allen Community College campus with Pearson and Thomas during spring break.


"We go to a lot of colleges and universities with the students," Pearson said. "But when we went to major universities, like Kansas State University, you could tell that some of the students were discouraged because they can't pay that much for tuition and not all of them are eligible for financial aid. They get great grades, so we're committed to finding them the money."


Pearson said that after going to Allen Community College the students seemed more hopeful, especially after receiving scholarships.


"You could tell they want [to go to college] so badly, but they didn't feel like they could get there," Thomas said. "I have no doubt that these students will go on and be successful in college. These few successes make it all worth it. I go home after work feeling good about what I do to help these students."


Collaboration and partnership between coaches and family school coordinators at Highland Park high school is a model of success

Instructional coaches Lynn Barnes and Ric Palma credit some of the success of GEAR UP at Highland Park high school to the communication and partnership they have with family school coordinator Sherlice Spicer.


February 10, 2010

Topeka, Kan. — Family school coordinator, Sherlice Spicer has lived in Topeka, Kansas her whole life. As a student, she attended Highland Park high school and now as an adult she works there.


Spicer started working at Highland Park high school at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, but she has been working on the Pathways to Success project since 2003. At Highland Park high school, Spicer works with some of the most experienced instructional coaches in the GEAR UP program.


One of those coaches, Lynn Barnes, was a college teacher of Spicer's. "I taught a foundations of education class and my goal was to share with my students what schools were really like," Barnes said. "And if they still wanted to be in education after hearing what it's really like then I'd know that they had the passion, desire and heart to be in education. And Sherlice [Spicer] definitely showed that she had the heart and desire."


Spicer also works and shares an office with instructional coach Ric Palma, who said Spicer is the one of the most successful family school coordinators the GEAR UP program has ever had.


"Sherlice [Spicer] has a very natural, maternal way with the students, but maternal in the sense of having a firm hand with the GEAR UP students," Palma said. "She doesn't let students get away with a lot. In education, we all want to see students succeed and that's definitely Sherlice [Spicer]."


Spicer said the main purpose of her job was to provide services to students so that they would become productive citizens. Spicer credits some of her success to the constant communication and collaboration with instructional coaches Barnes and Palma.


"Because our jobs aren't directly connected, most family school coordinators and instructional coaches don't interact much, but it's important to just make contact and check-up with each other," Spicer said. "We always have each other's backs and Ric [Palma] and Lynn [Barnes] are really like that and they know how to take care of business."


Barnes has been with the Pathways to Success grant since the beginning and said she knows she can always count on Palma and vice versa.


When Barnes was recently modeling for a teacher she said Palma was right by her side helping and that she would not have been able to do it if there had not been another outstanding coach in the room with her.


"When you have systemic dysfunction in a classroom it is mentally exhausting as a coach and sometimes the teacher is unable to help you control the students and classroom, that's why I was so glad Ric [Palma] was there to help by just being another presence in the room," Barnes said.


Palma said he often relies on Barnes's vast experience and knowledge of coaching, but that all of the GEAR UP program success at Highland Park high school ultimately has to do with good partnership.


Family Coordinators Talk with Students and Parents at the Topeka District College Fair

October 8, 2009

Topeka, Kan. — Hundreds of students and their parents gathered at the Kansas Expo Center on Thursday, October 8 despite the rainy weather.


Juniors and seniors from all Topeka Public School District high schools attended the annual College Fair to collect information from prospective colleges they might attend after high school.


Sherlice Spicer, family school coordinator for Highland Park high school, talks to Christine Stanton, Highland Park high school counselor, at the Topeka Public School District College Fair. Spicer said, "It's important for students to see all the post secondary educational opportunities available because it gives them options."

In addition to colleges, the GEAR UP grant had a booth with information on financial aid for parents and students. Family school coordinators from all over the district ran the booth and answered parents' and students' questions.


"A lot of parents don't know what they need to get their kids into college, especially ones that didn't go to college themselves," said Chad Brown, family school coordinator for Topeka West high school.


Family school coordinators for Topeka high school, Kareem Thomas and Dean Pearson organized and planned the GEAR UP booth at the College Fair this year.


"Some students see us in the high schools, but they don't know what we do," Thomas said. "The fair gives us an opportunity to increase our presence and show the students that we're here to help them."


KU Pathways to Success Celebrates First Annual National GEAR UP Day
September 18, 2009

KU Pathways to Success announces today its celebration of the First Annual National GEAR UP Day. This day commemorates 10 years of success for the transformative Gaining Early Awareness and Education for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), a college access program created during the Clinton Administration. Since its inception in 1999, GEAR UP has improved educational outcomes for millions of low-income students across the United States.


KU Pathways to Success has served over 10,000 students in the Topeka #501 School District, Kansas by providing academic and social support that will motivate them to stay on the path to post-secondary education. Together, Instructional Coaches and teachers, students received one-on-one tutoring before, during, and after school and are instructed in research-based academic and study strategies for academic success. From college visits to ACT/SAT registration to Student Financial Aid, Family School Coordinators and school staff supported helped students and their families received important informational access and support in preparing for post-secondary education. In thanks to our partnership with the International Telementor Program, we have provided over 4,400 students with online mentors through the Telementor Program. We will continue to ensure that students develop concrete, actionable goals that will motivate them to stay on the path to post-secondary success. National GEAR UP Day is a time to celebrate these accomplishments in the local community.


For more information about KU Pathways to Success, please contact the Program Coordinator, Dr. Bill Towns. To learn more about the national GEAR UP program, please contact the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) at 202-530-1135 or www.edpartnerships.org.

Telementoring & Summer Program
April 20, 2009

During the Pathways to Success Program 2008-2009 school year in Topeka schools, more than 450 students participated in Telementoring. The projects this year was a diverse selection and were created by many new teachers. There were two new literature projects for two novels: "Cry, the Beloved Country" is about South African Apartied and "November's Blues", a young adult urban novel is in a series by Sharon Draper. A math teacher at Topeka high school had her Telementoring students draw a scale-model of a baseball stadium using Algebra. Another teacher at Topeka high school had a science class involved in creating a unit lesson plan on certain body system for middle schoolers.


Our goal for the next school year is having 700 students participate in Telementoring. We have already reached 200 students. For the summer, we are launching our first Summer Program for Topeka students,tentively scheduled for Highland Park high school and Capital City high school students interested in continued learning and experiences for success during and after high school graduation. We anticpate that 25 students at each school will participate and that the program will successfully expanded to the other high schools.

International Telementor Program
March 11, 2009

The Entrepreneurship class has associated itself with international telementor program. This program facilitates electronic mentoring relationships between professional adults and students worldwide and is recognized as the leader in the field of academic-based mentoring. ITP has assisted youth here at HAS in realizing their dreams of the future-in-the-present. Our students at HSA have learned how to explore a unique career field specifically, and created a solid career and education plan. This was done by confirmation from top professionals. ITP provides mentoring opportunities for youth as well as professionals who normally would never collaborate in academic environment.

Paying for School
March 1, 2009

Family School Coordinators (FSCs) Liz Fisher and Ingrid Perez organized the Topeka West High School's Scholarship Night. The event was featured in KTKA's evening news. Please click here to read more from KTKA's news report.

10th Anniversary for Pathways to Success
March 1, 2009

For the past 10 years, we have been active in serving and preparing students for post-secondary since 1999. In 2005, during our 5th year Anniversary we launched our first Pathways to Success Web site. In honor of our 10th Anniversary, Pathways to Success decided to re-launch with a new and improved Web site. Welcome you to our new Web site!