gear up news & events
GEAR UP News & Events |
1st Annual Math, Science & Technology Student & Family Conference |
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Students from Roosevelt |
May 2010- Northeastern Illinois University hosted iMATHination’s 1st Annual Math, Science and Technology Student and Family Conference. "The workshops offered are a great way to capture the students’ attention”, said Evelyn Gray, GEAR UP site liaison from Uplift High School. Stephanie Perez, student advocate from Wells High School agrees, “When kids come to a conference like this they see that there’s so much to do. They see the value of math.” Learning about math, science and technology are not the only things participants learned at the conference. One student from Roosevelt High School after attending Square Dancing: The Motion of Mathematics said that all the students had to learn to work together to complete the steps of the workshop. Another student said that she learned to how to write a rap while learning science and math concepts. |
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 Evelyn Gray, GEAR UP
site liaison for Uplift High School with a parent and daughterattending the conference. Some students attended as a way of getting in a college visit. Karina, a high school junior, said “I never thought of college. Maybe I should go on one of these trips to find one I like.” Alfonso Garcia, a GEAR UP parent coordinator said many of the parents came out for the same reason, to learn more about college life. He said that the conference “shows parents different options for kids. For parents, it’s a way to see it is a safe environment for their kids – and the kids feel the extra support.” Parents also had opportunities to learn more about financial aid options. Shirley, who has a junior at Uplift High School said about the FAFSA workshop, “you can’t get enough of that.” When she first learned about FAFSA, she said that it was confusing. Now that she’s attended some workshops on financial aid, she feels she’s getting a better understanding of the process. “The more I hear, the better I understand.” As a GEAR UP parent advocate, she’s going to take what she’s learned and bring it back to Uplift for a workshop with the parents there. It’s always a challenge to get parents and kids to find time on a Saturday. But Anita, a mom from Wells put it this way; “If I stayed at home, I would have never known about Brainetics. [a way of doing mental math] I was in awe.” Next year, she says she’ll bring her kids with her. Learn more about the iMATHination. | |
