GEAR UP program celebrates 10 years

EDINBURG — College was not on the minds of Maria Moncada and Alyssa Reyna when they were in junior high school.

Both came from economically disadvantaged families. Like many of their peers, they thought attending a college or university was something children with well-to-do parents did.

Now, a decade later, they are wrapping up their undergraduate studies at the University of Texas-Pan American.

On Thursday, the university and the Texas Education Agency’s Region One Education Service Center — which serves the Rio Grande Valley — celebrated the 10th anniversary of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. The federally funded initiative helps students and their families learn more about how to get into college, pay for it and why they need to stay there and earn a degree.

UTPA and Region One were among the first institutions in the country to receive the six-year grant. They both were approved for another grant six years later. In that time, they have prepared about 30,000 students throughout South Texas for their post-secondary education.

During a news conference Thursday, Moncada and Reyna said neither would be where they are today if it weren’t for GEAR UP.

Moncada didn’t really know what college was all about and didn’t start realizing the importance of working hard in school until her eighth-grade year, she said. The 2006 La Joya High School graduate said taking concurrent enrollment classes — through which she earned college credit while still in high school — helped prepare her for college. Students in the program’s second cohort started their junior year of high school this year.

"I didn’t even understand the importance of concurrent enrollment until I had the opportunity to experience it myself," Moncada said. "GEAR UP had granted me with the necessary tools to achieve in both high school and college."

She plans to graduate in August with a degree in journalism and pursue a career in public relations and marketing in the health care industry.

Like Moncada, Reyna said she and her friends didn’t fully grasp the importance of going to college until they began GEAR UP. Growing up in Monte Alto, she and her friends thought college was only an option for students who attended big schools and came from families with higher incomes.

"GEAR UP not only opened a door for me, it also let me know what was behind the door," said Reyna, a 2006 Edcouch-Elsa High School graduate and junior at UTPA.

While involved in GEAR UP, she was able to participate in the university’s Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology conference, which encourages students to pursue careers in those disciplines. Now she works for the office that organizes the event and plans to continue her studies and pursue a master’s degree in public administration.

She encouraged students in GEAR UP’s second cohort to continue their education after high school.

"No matter where you come from … you don’t have to stop," she said. "I am living proof … that GEAR UP is successful and it has pushed me to better myself."