News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Overton County School System now have even more resources to to help increase enrollment and success in postsecondary education.
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has awarded the school system a $832,000 GEAR Up grant.
“We are very excited about being one of the 15 school systems across the state chosen for the Gear Up Grant,” Livingston Academy school counselor Vanessa Farris said
Jackson County schools also received GEAR Up funding, or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs grant.
The funding will serve next year’s 8th grade students by helping them develop college and career plans to ensure future success.
Farris said it’s important to make sure that students are ready and have a good mindset when they come into high school.
“Readiness is a big factor when coming into senior year,” Farris said. “Going to college becomes hard and we want to start developing those [plans] earlier so that students enter high school focused on the future.”
Farris said a cohort group will follow the students through the next six years of education with hopes of increasing their readiness for postsecondary studies.
As part of the project, Overton County Schools and Livingston Academy will form a local, community-based GEAR UP TN Collaborative to provide college access and success-focused services to students at all Overton County Schools with 8th grades: Allons Elementary, Hilham Elementary, Livingston Middle School, Rickman Elementary, and Wilson Elementary.
Seniors at Livingston Academy will also receive direct services that will help them prepare for college and apply to postsecondary programs. Services will include one-on-one mentoring, tutoring, college visits, and financial aid counseling.
Each GEAR UP Tn Collaborative includes formal partnerships with at least one middle school, one high school, a higher education institution, a local board of education and at least two community-based organizations. Partners will help implement grant activities and ensure that the momentum of college access work continues beyond the six-year grant.
“Most jobs require some sort of post-secondary education. This includes training and education at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, Associate programs at Community Colleges, 4 year Bachelor’s degrees and even advanced educational programs.” Overton County Director of Schools Mark Winningham said. “Today’s students have more options than ever. We don’t want to wait until the senior year to share all these options with students.”
Overton County’s collaborative will partner with Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Volunteer State Community College and Tennessee Tech University to educate students about college choices and admission procedures, how to access financial aid and scholarship and the opportunities available to them locally.
In addition, The Chamber of Commerce will also partner with Gear Up to help students connect education and the world of work. Many local businesses already partner with LA by providing industry visit days and internships for students.
“Reality is that a lot of students do want to continue to be at home,” Farris said. “They need to be educated about what jobs are in our region and maybe select those whenever they are going off to college.”
Tennessee’s first GEAR UP Tn project, which began in 2005, resulted in a 22.8-percent increase in college-going rates in the nine rural school districts. Communities served by Tennessee’s second GEAR UP Tn grant, which began in 2012, have shown impressive results, including over 9-percentage points of growth in college-going rates since 2012.
