KRGV.com

An exciting event was held a few weeks ago for both GEAR UP students and their parents. Region One sponsored this college readiness program.

Tina Atkins is the executive director for the Region One ESC GEAR UP program. Tina has seen thousands of GEAR UP students graduate from high school and move on to college for more than a decade.

It's easy to see why Tina has a passion for college readiness programs like this one. She says "well over the course of the past two weeks, we have had five conferences for GEAR UP parents and students, so over the course of those two weeks, we have had over 3000 students who have come to us to find out about pathways to college."

Tina hopes this conference will teach those thousands of students here that all kinds of resources are readily available for them as they decide where they want to attend college.

"The purpose of this event is to help kids kind of set a path for college to help them understand college and all of the resources that are available to them. And to really help put in their minds at a very young age, the idea that college is not just possible, it's a plan."

Looks like the plan to get everyone involved in this college readiness program was a huge success, one that Tina says couldn't have been done without a caring community.

"Today alone we have 450 students and parents...but what's really interesting and really fun is that we have community members, Wells Fargo, IBC, we have the South Texas Literacy Coalition and we have many former GEAR UP students who are here to help these new gear up students along their path to college."