the Wave

In September, GEAR UP parents and stu-dents participated in a three day excursion to visit universities that spanned over three

counties in Southern California. Two charter buses took the students and their parents, along with the GEAR UP Coordinators and Parent Partnership Liaisons, to tour campuses, learn about majors, and gain a better understanding of what it means to go to college.

Our first day consisted of a visit to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, commonly known as Cal Poly. This is a nationally ranked public university specializing in preparing students for today’s scientific and technical world. Parents and students were given a campus tour and attended a workshop on resiliency given by Professor Dr. Tony Dominguez.

On the second day, we visited the University of California Santa Barbara. UCSB is known as the country’s “hottest” college because of its location on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is a leading research institution and provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Parents and students attended a workshop on UCSB admissions information and the A-G requirements. Participants were also given a campus tour and enjoyed lunch in the dining hall.

Next, we went to California State University Channel Islands. This university is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural, and international perspectives. CSU Channel Islands emphasizes experiential and service learning. Parents and students were impressed by the beautiful nature surrounding this campus and the many majors that this campus specializes in.

On the third day, we toured California Lutheran University, a private university located in Thousand Oaks. CLU offers small classes and encourages students to pursue their passions to discover their purpose and follow that purpose to transform their community. Students especially enjoyed touring the sports facilities.

Our last campus of this three day journey was California State University Northridge. Located in the heart of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, CSUN is committed to the educational and professional goals of

the students. Many students were impressed by the vast amount of majors that CSUN offers. Parents and students also visited the residential area and enjoyed lunch in the dining hall.

The GEAR UP staff, parents and students had a wonderful experience exploring the universities. Parents and students expressed their gratitude to learn so much about post-secondary options and the many opportunities that await them. This was a great tour for GEAR UP students and parents to see the variety and quality of colleges and universities offered in Southern California.

RIDE THE GEAR UP WAVE TO SUCCESS

the MiraCosta College/oCeanside Unified sChool distriCt PartnershiP newsletter

oCtober 2014

GEAR UP StUdEntS And PAREntS toUR CAlifoRniA CollEGES

California College Tour Group Photo - UCSB

What I learned all these three days is what it takes to go to a university and how to get there. It doesn’t just take grades, it takes responsibility and dedication to go to a top school.

“ “

GEAR UP Student

�ank you to the GEAR UP program for the opportunity of providing us with information and familiarizing ourselves with the universities for the future of our children.

“ “

GEAR UP Parent

Volume 3

placestamphere

GEAR UPMiraCosta College1Barnard DriveOceanside, CA 92056

MiSSion StAtEmEntTo support a culture that empowers ALL Oceanside students to achieve graduation,

college preparation, career readiness and success in the global community.

ViSion StAtEmEntGEAR UP students are academically and socially adept, college educated,

and productive members of society.

1To increase students’ academic performance and preparation for post-secondary education. 2To increase

graduation rates and entry into post-secondary education. 3To increase students’

and their families’ knowledge of post-secondary education options, preparation and financing.

mCC/oUSd GEAR UPQUAlity | EffECtivEnESS | RESUltS

2 3

Hello, my name is Maggie Godinez; I am the GEAR UP Coordinator for El Camino High School. I am very

pleased to be welcoming back the class of 2017 & 2018 to the ECHS campus. This school year has kicked off to a great start.

GEAR UP is continuing to provide many activities to help prepare you for college. This year GEAR UP will be focusing on providing support to our students by offering in-class tutoring throughout their math classes. GEAR UP staff is working to ensure our students receive the support they need to be successful in their academic career. We are also offering afterschool tutoring services in the Wildcat lab located in the library, where students can receive academic support in all areas.

GEAR UP is working to create a college going culture on campus by offering weekly w o r k s h o p s to students on different topics in the GEAR UP room at lunch time. We have many field trips scheduled this semester to the local community colleges and universities. Students and parents are encouraged to visit the GEAR UP room, D-214, for more information on the activities that GEAR UP offers. 2

Hello from G E A R UP at

Oceanside High School! My name is Daniel Andrade and I’m excited to be

the new Coordinator for GEAR UP here at OHS!

Our GEAR UP staff is hard at work! We were on campus during registration, which gave us a chance to reconnect with familiar faces and introduce ourselves to our new students and parents. We met with many of our freshmen parents during Freshmen Parent Orientation.

GEAR UP provides academic support for freshmen and sophomores in many of their classes. Monday through Friday there is lunchtime and after school tutoring in room W137, where students can get additional support in their academics.

We took an amazing three day trip with close to 50 of our students and their parents in September to visit five universities north of Los Angeles. We spoke to every one of our freshmen about all that GEAR UP has to offer them during Character Development and Four-Year Plan workshops at our school. During the last week of October we will speak with our sophomores.

National GEAR UP Week was celebrated

El CAmino HiGH SCHoolCooRdinAtoR’S CoRnER

oCEAnSidE HiGH SCHool CooRdinAtoR’S CoRnER

Welcome to Year 4 of our MiraCosta College and Oceanside Unified School District Partnership with

our GEAR UP federal grant!I am very pleased to introduce our two

GEAR UP Parent Partnership Liaisons. These positions were created to collaborate directly with our parents at our two compre-hensive high schools. Our liaisons are fluent in both English and Spanish.

Ismariceli Antonio, our liaison at El Cami-no High School, brings to this position a wealth of experience working with GEAR UP for the last two years. She attended school in Oceanside and graduated from CSUSM with a bachelor of arts in Criminol-ogy and Justice Studies. She has worked with our two cohorts at Chavez Middle School and is very excited to be an important contact for our GEAR UP parents.

Angelica Zamora, our liaison at Oceanside High School, also brings to her position a wealth of experience working with GEAR UP at both Jefferson Middle School and Oceanside High School for the last two years. Angelica attended school in Oceans-ide and is currently a postgraduate student at MiraCosta College for a major in Psychol-ogy. She is very active in our community.

Attached is their Parent Newsletter that highlights important upcoming events, ser-vices, programs, and activities for our parents and guardians whose children are part of the GEAR UP federal grant.

Additionally, I commend the hard work of many dedicated teams who successfully provided multiple offerings to our GEAR UP students and parents during the last few months. A Point Loma Nazarene Univer-sity Residential Program occurred from June 8-12 for 137 students. Our Freshmen

A WoRd fRom tHE diRECtoR

Maggie Godinez Daniel Andrade

Julie Johnson, Director, GEAR UP

UPCominG EvEntSOctober

Parent & Student WorkshopsEncuentros Education & Career

Exploration ConferenceNorth County College Fair

College Visit to CSU San MarcusPSAT TestsNovember

Parent & Student WorkshopsCollege Visits to:CSU San Marcos

UC RiversideParent Advisory Board Meeting

DecemberParent & Student Workshops

College Visit to CSU San MarcosToys for Tots Drive

JanuaryParent & Student Workshops

PSAT Test ResultsFebruary

Parent & Student WorkshopsCollege Visits

MarchParent & Student WorkshopsGEAR UP Parent & Student

ConferenceApril

Parent & Student WorkshopsCollege Visits – San Diego Area

Contact GEAR UP at your school site for more information.oCEAnSidE HiGH SCHool

PAREnt liAiSonEl CAmino HiGH SCHoolPAREnt liAiSon

2

Summer Institute at both Oceanside and El Camino High Schools provided an oppor-tunity for 277 GEAR UP students to earn 5 elective credits before starting school this fall. On September 4-6, almost 100 students and parents participated in a three day tour of CalPoly San Luis Obispo, University of California Santa Barbara, California State University Channel Island, Cal Lutheran, and California State University Northridge.

I encourage all to embrace and participate in the multiple opportunities that GEAR UP provides at ECHS and OHS. My best wishes for another excellent year working together for College and Career Awareness and endless possibilities for our families of GEAR UP. 2

I am happy to be the new Parent

Pa r t n e r s h i p Liaison for El Camino High School. This year GEAR UP parent involve-

ment started strong. GEAR UP took 29 ECHS parents to a three day “All Aboard” trip to five mid-California universities. We were ecstatic for parents to join their child in this trip where they better familiarized with several universities, college life, and gained tools to support their students in academic

As a former Oceanside High School graduate, I am beyond excited to return to my Alma Mater as the new

Parent Partnership Liaison for Oceanside High School. We started the process as soon as possible here at Oceanside High to ensure our parent partnership had great success and effectiveness. Our purpose in the GEAR UP program is to increase parent participation in school wide and GEAR UP activities, programs, events and services. GEAR UP took 25 OHS parents on our “All Aboard” trip to five different universities in the Santa Barbara area during the month of September. Our goal for the three day visitation was to give parents the tools and resources they

need to help and motivate their child to continue with higher education. For that reason, we will invite parents on our college visits so together they can see and achieve the same goal as a family. We hope to see new bonds and relationships grow with our students’ families and our GEAR UP Staff. I look forward to an amazing year here at Oceanside High School with our GEAR UP parents and guardians. 2

success. Due to the amazing outcome of the trip, GEAR UP will be inviting parents to multiple university trips throughout the year. This school year GEAR UP will also provide parent workshops that will help par-ents who attend understand their students’ academic requirements. The team and I will be working closely with ECHS staff to build strong bonds with parents and students as the year progresses. Thank you parents for your support of GEAR UP events, activities, services, and programs. Please feel free to contact me at 760-901-8135 or Ismariceli.Antonio@oside.us 2

continued on page 3

A Word from the Director continued from page1

September 22-26 and included various college-related activities. Guest speakers included Dr. Xuan Santos, a professor of Sociology at CSU San Marcos, who grew up in the rough neighborhood of Boyle Heights in LA, and Anakaren Ruano, a MiraCosta College student who overcame numerous obstacles to successfully achieve two goals - graduating from high school and attending college. GEAR UP recently visited CSUSM and 50 of our sophomores participated in a campus tour and heard from a panel of students.

We have multiple GEAR UP activities, events, services, and programs planned for our students and parents throughout the year! I look forward to seeing you and your child at them! 2

Ismariceli Antonio Angelica Zamora