This week is national GEAR (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) Up week, where educators and officials around the country celebrate the ways that schools help prepare students for the future with preparedness programs.

eSchoolNews has taken a look at several ways schools in the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools are leading the pack in ensuring its students success after graduation. The Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools is comprised of 57 districts that are committed to improving the opportunity to learn for all of their students through technology and research."

"We rounded up some best practices League members use to ensure students stay in school, get their degrees, and are prepared for success in their post-secondary endeavors," the article said.

Gov. Jay Inslee has honored a Central Washington University program designed to increase the number of low-income students prepared to enter and succeed in college.

Gov. Inslee has proclaimed Sept. 21-25 as GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Program) Week.

CWU’s GEAR UP program specifically targets low-income high-school students in the Brewster, Chelan, Easton, Highland, Manson, Omak, Oroville, Quincy, Tonasket, Richland, and Wenatchee school districts.

“We start with students in sixth and seventh grades and follow them through to their first year of college,” said Tracy Plouse, CWU’s GEAR UP director. “All students receive career and college admissions counseling, along with financial aid counseling from our site directors and university staff.”

Harlan County students will be participating in a series of activities Sept. 21-25 to learn about colleges and careers as part of the National GEAR UP Week. GEAR UP is a federal grant program which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.

National GEAR UP Week is an opportunity for educators to raise awareness in their school and community about the positive impact GEAR UP is having locally, according to local GEAR UP academic specialists.

It is National GEAR UP week, and over 16,000 low income students across the state will celebrate the college access program throughout the week.

GEAR UP, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, began in 1999 and is funded by the United States Department of Education. The program provides students and their families with resources to succeed in college, leading millions of low-income students to success throughout the nation towards positive education outcomes.

CHARLESTON, WV -- Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has designated this week as “West Virginia GEAR UP Week” to recognize the impact and achievements of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) effort.

GEAR UP is a national grant program funded by the United States Department of Education. Its mission is to help students pursue and achieve some form of education and training beyond high school. This week has been declared “National GEAR UP Week” by program partners across the country.

Today’s economy and job market are making a college degree or trade school education almost mandatory, and one group is helping students reach their goal of a higher education.

The national organization GEAR UP — or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs — helps income-ealigible students apply and enter a college or university.

“The support the students get from us is amazing,” said Chrissie Henschler, public relations and professional development coordinator for GEAR UP Wyoming. “We help them get through school and in to higher education.”

Banks School, Pike County High School and Goshen High School will kick off the GEAR UP program next week with activities and events to get the students excited.

“We are excited about it being kick-off week,” said Vicki Hagler, GEAR UP site facilitator for Banks School and PCHS. “The students seem excited about it already.”

GEAR UP, “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs,” is a program that focuses on helping students pursue an education past high school through college and career training programs. Students involved in the program have the opportunity to participate in the program until they graduate high school or until their first year of college or post-secondary education.

From Sept. 21-25, the week highlights Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), a federally funded college access program that provides students and their families with college planning resources.

Sioux City is one of 12 school districts in Iowa chosen for the program last school year. The grant follows current district eighth-grade students as they progress through school and college.

Take South Girard eighth grader Lauren Coleman. After school, she plans to attend UCLA and become the first African-American woman President of the United States of America. She won’t start college until at least 2020, but the 13-year-old is still dreaming big.

Lauren and hundreds of other students who go to Title I schools posted their dreams on a dream wall and etched their futures on balloons they symbolically released Monday.

Gordo and Pickens County High Schools will celebrate the GEAR UP program with a kick off September 14.  GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.  The Pickens County Board of Ed was chosen as a recipient of the federally-funded program from UAB.  50 Blackbelt region schools are covered by the grant.

The University of Wyoming and state community colleges including Sheridan College will celebrate the success of the GEAR UP college access program with events beginning Monday.

The week commemorates the continuing success of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, a program that provides students and families the support and resources they need for college success.

The University of Wyoming and state community colleges will celebrate the success of the GEAR UP college access program with events beginning Monday, Sept. 21.

The week commemorates the continuing success of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), a program that provides students and families the support and resources they need for college success.

Since its inception in 1999, GEAR UP has improved educational outcomes for millions of low-income, minority and disadvantaged students across the United States. GEAR UP Wyoming, in partnership with Wyoming’s seven community colleges, served more than 2,300 students during the 2014-15 school year.

In its first year, the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program is sponsored and funded by the GEAR UP program, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, and is aimed at freshmen and sophomores.

“We are giving them the skills they need to master high school and beyond and to help them in college and in professions,” said Liz Dickenson, the AVID teacher at Logan High.

Dickenson, who also teaches both AP chemistry and chemistry 1010, explained the classes teach the students organizational, writing and note-taking skills. As they become juniors and seniors, they will do ACT prep and learn how to apply for scholarships and how to apply to college.

Students and teachers from one Hoover middle school spent part of their summer helping students at a rural Alabama school that lacks Hoover's resources.

During the summer, Berry Middle School helped provide books for G.P. Austin Middle School in Marengo County through a program called “GEAR UP Alabama.” “GEAR UP” stands for “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.”

As students around the state settle back into their school routines, 9,300 middle school students in Alabama’s Black Belt Region are starting the school year with college tuition waivers awaiting them upon high school graduation.

The Alabama Community College System has partnered with the UAB-led GEAR UP Alabama program to provide full tuition waivers to students in the Class of 2020 and 2021 who meet specified criteria for admission to attend any public community or technical college in the state.