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Gear Up Offers High School Students Opportunities

Photos and story by James Hill

CASCADE CAMPUS – The Gear Up Project offers students a great opportunity to get the guidance they need and now they need adult mentors to continue providing help to students. The organization’s ASPIRE volunteer program sponsored by Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ’s Cascade Campus and Jefferson High School offers one-on-one, adult-to-student mentoring. The mentoring for individual students is one hour per week and four hours per month. It is held in room B-35 of Jefferson High School, 5210 N. Kerby. ASPIRE volunteer advisors help high school students to envision a future of possibilities. They provide one-on-one mentoring that includes academic preparation, scholarship search, career exploration, college choice and financial aid."ASPIRE is not just for high achieving or ?at-risk’ students, but serves the whole student body,"said Phillip Christian, assistant director of Gear Up. "ASPIRE Advisors are matched with one-to-10 students. The ASPIRE program provides training and resource materials to volunteer mentors."The Gear Up Project provides mentors to Portland-area low-income middle- and high school students to help them succeed academically and prepare for college. PCC received a $2.8 million federal grant from the Department of Education to implement the five-year program, which runs until 2005.PCC will serve more than 105,000 part- and full-time students annually in a wide variety of programs this year. The college boasts three comprehensive campuses, four workforce training centers and approximately 200 community locations throughout its five-county district.For more information on Gear Up at the PCC Cascade Campus (705 N. Killingsworth), call 503-493-0131.