Hpewell News

Last week, 25 Hopewell High School students geared up not only for summer vacation but also for life beyond high school. The students are rising sophomores in the federally-funded Gear Up program, of which they have been a part since seventh grade. The program features enrichment, guest speakers, field trips to college campuses and will include matching Pell Grants for post-secondary education upon successful completion of high school.
The program allows for more individualized attention to the students to get them help where they need it most, said Walter Broner, a social studies teacher at the high school. �I think it�s a great opportunity for the kids,� he said.
Across the state about 46,000 students are involved in the grant, which ends when that group of students graduate in 2012. At Hopewell High School, the program consists of four teachers and two coordinators, said Barbara Emison, the high school career coach. The students� time in the program typically is divided between academic sessions and a period of career and college searches.
Last week, as the program concluded for this academic year, students working with Cory Black Eagle, a science teacher, each created a brochure about their chosen college and career.
�This is something they can hang on to,� Black Eagle said. Along with looking at aspects such as the campus setting and extracurricular activities, their brochures included admissions information and how the majors the students choose will point them toward their chosen careers.
Across the building, other students began to look at math basics and concepts for their classes in the coming years. Additionally, they were told of Web sites that could help them if they began to struggle with some aspects of math as they arose.
�We�re giving them a jump start,� said Kimberly Williams, who works with algebra readiness. �We wanted to make sure they had that introduction to the concepts.�
Principal Neal Fletcher said that the program has overall been an excellent opportunity to help students toward higher education. Additionally, he noted that he hadn�t seen a school system work so hard for success.
�I�ve never been in a school system that has done so much for kids,� he said.
Overall, said Gary Krapf, state director of the Gear Up Program, there is a hope that the resources made available will have a positive effect on college and career preparedness.
�Our hope at the end of this grant is that we maintained more students in school than in previous years with this grant,� he said.
So far, it appeared to be working. Despite the warm summer day outside, some of the students were even researching calculus in their last moments in the program for the academic year.
�Math is usually not the hot topic of the summer,� Williams said.