February, 2017

by

GEAR UP Maine staff

Here is what we have included this month

(Don't forget to click "view entire message" at the bottom of this email to view all of our updates)

Bulletin Highlights

#FormYourFuture
WE ARE GEAR UP - Call for student stories
Code.org Professional Development to Maine Teachers
SCRIBE Tips & Tricks
SAVE THE DATES - Regional GEAR UP Sessions
Resource of the Month - College Prep Checklist

Be sure to visit our GEAR UP Maine Portal often for new resources, grant mandates, schools sharing with schools and much more! www.gearupmeportal.org

Share your GEAR UP successes and challenges with us to share in Bulletins to come!
Email Kayla@syntiro.org

Warmly,
The GEAR UP Maine Staff

Grant Must Do's

February Must Do's

College Access Team Members

Parent and Guardian Financial Awareness
Provide services/activities and receipt documentation to Data Stewards & Business Managers

Data Stewards

Submit MEA assessment data for 2015-2016.(Grades 7-9: Math, English, Science; Grade 11: Science)
Enter mid-year grades for courses if applicable. Use S1 for Term.
Services, participation, & service summaries for January are entered.
Ensure student enrollment is up-to-date: new & exited students. New students’ GU eligibility is noted, if applicable
September – January tasks not completed.
Due by Mar. 5.

March Must Do's

College Access Team Members

Provide services/activities and receipt documentation to Data Stewards & Business Managers

What's Happening

#FormYourFuture

Most students don’t understand federal financial aid or think they’ll get any. The truth is that MOST students are eligible. Help spread the word! At the link below, you will find a toolkit for social media posts for February-April 2017. We encourage your to join the #FormYourFuture campaign with your school or district social media platforms. It's so easy! Just use the toolkit provided by the National College Access Network.

Form Your Future Social Media Toolkit

CALL FOR GEAR UP STUDENT STORIES

All of our GEAR UP students have a story to tell. It's up to us to help them find their voice to tell it. Do you know a student who would be interested in sharing their story with GEAR UP Maine? Be it a story of success or struggle, we want to hear it and share it. It's so important now, more than ever, that our students' voices are heard. Please contact GEAR UP Maine Communication Specialist, Kayla Hopkins kayla@syntiro.org if you are interested in diving into this student story-telling adventure.

Code.org

Regional Partnership to offer
Professional Development to Maine Teachers

Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) and Educate Maine are proud to announce the two organizations have been selected as a Code.org Regional Partner through a collaborative partnership. MMSA and Educate Maine will provide quality computer science professional development to educators through local district partnerships with Code.org and act as a regional hub of the global computer science education movement.

Maine teachers can now apply to be part of Code.org's Professional Learning Program which is an an intensive, year-long professional learning program for middle and high school educators who are interested in teaching Code.org's CS Discoveries (middle school) or CS Principles (high school) courses.

Teachers who apply and are accepted to the program can participate in all parts of the program at no cost to the teacher or school. This opportunity provides needed support to teachers and schools to implement computer science in middle schools and high schools across Maine.

For more information, please visit: http://www.projectlogin.com/education/code-org-partnership

SCRIBE Tips & Tricks

February Scribe Tip/Trick

A bit about service providers
Why and how?

SAVE THESE DATES
for Regional GEAR UP Sessions: How to use data to guide the development of your year 4 GEAR UP action plan

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Aroostook Maine CATs at UMPI, Campus Center, 9am – 2 pm

Monday, April 10, 2017
Western/central Maine CATs at UMF, North dining hall, 9am – 2 pm

Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Downeast Maine CATs at UMM, Reynolds Conference Room, 9am - 2pm

Resource of the Month

College Prep Checklist
This checklist is sent to all new GEAR UP eligible students in our schools, however they are great to resource to include on your school websites!
View the PDF of the checklist here

District Portal

Upcoming Events

Tell us what you'd like to know more about

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Twitter

Website

The GEAR UP Maine program is funded through a grant (reference #P3345050037;
Karmon Simms-Coates, Project Officer) from the U.S. Department of Education to
University of Maine at Farmington administered by Syntiro.