Indiana GEAR UP: Creating doors and opportunities for students

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Virginia Bolshakova directs the Indiana Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), which received $24.5 million in U.S. Department of Education funding in 2016. The program starts with cohorts of seventh graders and sees them through the first year of college or education beyond high school.

Indiana GEAR UP’s two main goals are to increase the number of students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education and to conduct research to better understand student STEM learning, persistence and entry into college and careers

Currently the first cohort, the Class of 2022, is in its first year of postsecondary education, and the second cohort, the Class of 2023, is preparing to graduate from high school and begin college in the fall of 2023. Now in its seventh year, Indiana GEAR UP is led by a collaborative team of staff from the Purdue University’s College of Education and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The program is working with students in nine partner school corporations and associated schools in Indiana and is part of the USDOE GEAR UP program.

More information can be read on the Purdue University College of Education website.

Media Contact: Brian Huchel, bhuchel@purdue.edu