Sean C. Morgan
High school’s GEAR-UP program develops new focus in effort to endure
From all appearances, School District 55’s GEAR UP program is a success, but now those involved in it are trying to keep it alive.
To do so, students have decided to open a yogurt shop at the high school.
The GEAR UP program is in its fifth of six years, beginning with the class of 2014, operating on a $40,000 grant from the Oregon University System. Approximately two-thirds of that money funds Coordinator Kristin Adams’ position, and the rest is spent on activities.
Adams said that the grant funding will run out at the end of this school year, so she and students are working to develop ways to keep it going by setting up a yogurt shop at the high school.
“One of my big frustrations in working with grants is nobody talks about sustaining them till it’s too late,” Adams said. “Of course, the biggest expense is usually labor, and that goes away when the grant ends. If the district doesn’t pick me up, I want to make sure the programs are in place.”
The goal of the program has been to change Sweet Home’s culture, increasing students’ and their parents’ appreciation for the value of post-secondary education through college visits and classroom activities.
“Not everyone needs to go to college, but they need to have a plan,” Adams said. If high school graduates want to work, attend community college, enter an apprenticeship, enter the military or attend a university, they need a plan, and Adams will help them with that.
The program started when the Class of 2014 was in the seventh grade, Adams said. It had 104 actively participating at the time.
Some data are available about the program, Adams said, although no participants have graduated yet, leaving information about students’ post-secondary success unavailable.
In 2006, 28 percent of graduating seniors had taken the SAT, Adams said. In 2004, 10 percent of graduates had enrolled in a state university. About 30 percent attended community college.
Last year, 15 percent of graduates had enrolled in a state university, and 26 percent had enrolled in a four-year school, Adam said. Some 38 percent took classes at Linn-Benton Community College. In 2010, 55 percent of graduates had a plan in place. In 2012, 70 percent had a confirmed plan.
While last year’s seniors weren’t directly involved in the program, like this year’s seniors, they have had access to some of the content.
Adams knows students who, she said, would never have gone to college if not for GEAR UP or the related ASPIRE program. The effort has had an effect, although it cannot be measured empirically at this point.
“Every year, as those kids grow older, we have to identify plans as to what we’re going to do to achieve post-secondary education,” Adams said. Seventh-graders in the beginning were invited to attend a class called Beyond High School. Today, the class is mandatory for all seventh-graders.
In the eighth grade it’s an elective, reaching probably 50 percent of the class; and there are requirements for all students at each grade.
GEAR-UP instructors pay visits to mandatory high school English classes, she said. Their message to students will likely be picked up by English teachers afterward.
Their subject matter explores a variety of topics associated with life after high school, providing students with information they need to decide on careers, apply for financial aid and college, testing and how higher education functions, from how grades affect students to skills assessments.
Students visit campuses, participate in Career Day and eventually engage in mock job interviews as seniors.
In addition to its emphasis on post-high school planning, it has evolved into a leadership opportunity for those who participate in the elective portions of it.
“The kids were, ‘I get it. I get it, Mrs. Adams. You want me to go to college,’” Adams said. “I really felt like we needed to pay attention to the whole person.”
The high school has teachers for academics and Adams to promote college, but students have not had many opportunities to engage in community service and leadership activities, Adams said. The only way they could be involved in leadership was to win an election to their class boards.
Many students with great leadership potential were untapped, and it’s something they need to apply for scholarships and admission to college, she said.
To address that problem, last spring, GEAR UP started a service learning focus with the sophomores, the class of 2014, giving them the opportunity to put leadership activities on their resumes.
Students decided to tackle bullying at school, developing a welcoming environment with random acts of kindness and mentoring.
The first semester focused on random acts of kindness around the school, said Kerstin Brosterhous, the high school’s GEAR UP teacher. “The GEAR UP thing is centered around college, but the class is about making a change in general.”
Students have been involved in the changes, senior Naomi Gunselman said.
“We started just as sort of a leadership class,” she said. “It moved toward starting a business and leaving a legacy.”
When the class began, the School District received a small grant fromt he Oregon University System so the class could use to start a business to help fund the GEAR UP program after funding runs out.
The approximately 25 students in the class decided to open a frozen yogurt shop, but they only had $4,000. The grant could not cover the cost of the machines though, so the class removed the frozen yogurt from its business plan. Their final plan featured the “Husky Den,” which would redecorate the high school commons and open periodically as a teen hangout.
This year, the Oregon University System offered the College Access Challenge, asking for plans to help sustain college and career programs, like GEAR UP.
“So I took their business plan and wrote the grant around that frozen yogurt,” Adams said.
They worked with Economic Development Director Brian Hoffman, who connected the students with the Linn-Benton Community College Small Business Center. Joe Peterson, a retired CEO for a large food processor, and his wife, Marlene, a small business owner, are working with the students. They will work with the GEAR UP students with Brosterhous.
The advisers from the Small Business Center are helping get the students motivated, said sophomore Karson Rodgers.
“The part I like is creating an entrepreneurial emphasis,” said Hoffman, former Sweet Home Economic Development Group economic development director. “It gets kids looking creatively. It opens their eyes to potential opportunities in small communities, specifically in Sweet Home. I’m really pleased to see that the Small Business Development Center is involved and working with this class to develop this business model.”
Hoffman is urging people with business experience to contact Adams and mentor students for the sake of the Sweet Home community’s future.
The Oregon University System awarded Sweet Home High School $25,000 to pursue the business plan. Adams is pursuing additional funds from the Ford Family Foundation, $15,000 each of three years.
Funds from the business will be divided three ways, with 30 percent to existing GEAR UP activities, 50 percent for new activities and 20 percent to offset revenue taken from the student store.
The store will be open before and after school, Adams said. It will be staffed by GEAR UP students, with supervision from nine staff advisers. The machines can be rolled to the main gym for ball games, where it will be operated by paid student store staff and volunteers.
Each member of the class has specific jobs and tasks, Gunselman said.
During the day, the school has calorie restrictions, which will limit servings to 4 ounces, but at other times, more can be served. The charge will be based on the weight of the frozen yogurt and toppings. It also will be available on nights when the Husky Den is open, one night a week to start.
The Husky Den is meant to be a family time, and it will be open to families, Adams said.
The goal is to get the frozen yogurt and Husky Den running by April 1, she said. She plans on having an open house on April 3, the same night as parent-teacher conferences.
Right now, the shop has secured one machine, which means two flavors are available. An additional machine will allow four flavors, one of them vanilla. The others will be the three that students decide are most popular.
Dustin Nichol’s Construction Trades class will construct furniture, including long benches built from the old main gym floor, removed when the high school was remodeled in 2001.
Art will be based on a black-and-white photography contest of Husky history and Husky-related subjects, Adams said, and the color scheme will include browns, golds and greens.
“It’s really exciting,” Adams said, and the students are excited about having a frozen yogurt shop.
“It’s definitely going to be busy,” Rodgers said. “A lot of teachers are really excited about it too.”
Student Miranda Reynolds said she’s looking forward to going into business with her friends.
“As a GEAR UP class, we’re really excited about the Husky Den because it gives us a real-world experience in the business world. It’s going to be another one of those exciting memories of these great halls.”