Happy September, everyone! My name is Nate Mackinnon and I am the Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges at the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). I am also the Principal Investigator (PI) for NSHE’s GEAR UP grant.
We hope that you have had a successful first month back at school! September is an exciting time for the GEAR UP program. We are eager to be kicking off the second full year of our grant. This week we are happy to celebrate National GEAR UP Week (September 21-25) too, and we will also be encouraging our students to begin thinking about their college applications and FAFSA completion. A new year also brings some changes. To our website, we are adding new and helpful resources for students, parents, and staff. And on our social media, we have more interactivity planned as we are hoping to grow our connections and reach as many students as possible during these times of isolation and uncertainty.
Of course, now is also time to persevere and adapt to the changes in our world. As always, our staff is here to ensure that students stay informed and encouraged about college and kept up to date with helpful resources and advice regarding access to higher education. To assist in this virtual world, next month we will be releasing application and campus tour videos for each NSHE institution, which we hope will shed some light on the different options GEAR UP NV students have for college in the Silver State.
Also, in September, NSHE welcomed Dr. Melody Rose as the new Chancellor. Dr. Rose, our new GEAR UP First-Year College Advisors, GEAR UP Specialists, and all of our GEAR UP NV staff are sure to make this 2020-2021 school year a successful one! Thank you for everything you do!
