UW GEAR UP

Welcome to GEAR UP Achievers!

Gaining
Early
Awareness &
Readiness for
Undergraduate
Programs

Auburn | Kent | Renton | Tukwila
Class of 2024 and Class of 2025

GEAR UP Student at our Husky Leadership Academy: Stats for Storytelling summer camp hosted at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Coronavirus/COVID-19

The UW GEAR UP Achievers team wishes for each of our students, their families, and communities to be safe and healthy during these times. The University of Washington has compiled a list of resources that may be useful for folks experiencing hardship right now. If you are seeking assistance/support that cannot be met with those resources, please reach out to your GEAR UP site coordinators or to our GEAR UP Achievers team.

The GEAR UP Achievers office is open Monday – Friday, 8:00AM – 5:00PM in Kent, Washington.

Latest Updates

  • GEAR UP 411
    Check out some of the latest events and activities our schools have put on for their students over the last couple of months.  Auburn School District  Auburn High School has…
  • GEAR UP Achievers Hosts its First-Ever Parent Academy 
    This fall, 49 parents from Lindbergh, Hazen, Renton, Kentwood, Kent-Meridian, Kentridge, and Foster High Schools attended GEAR UP’s first-ever Parent Academy. Parent Academy is an 8-week course designed to help…
  • How the UW is helping middle and high school students pursue a college degree
    Click here to see original post Studies have demonstrated that higher education paves the way for career success and financial independence. But research also shows that realizing the dream of…
  • 2022-2023 STEM Mini-Grants Now Available
    GEAR UP is a federally funded grant through the Department of Education, that provides middle and high school students from low-income, first generation, or minority families the support they need…
Students posing together at the Youth Leadership Conference in Washington D.C.
A student conducting an experiment using Nano-technology.
Photo by Jovelle Tamayo
A student preps her poster for her clean energy project presentation.
Photo by Jovelle Tamayo
A family posing together at the Husky Leadership Academy: Stats for Storytelling presentation.

Students kayaking on the Olympic Peninsula at NatureBridge

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a federal grant, funded by the Department of Education, that provides middle and high school students from low-income families the support they need to access and succeed in college.  In fall of 2018, the University of Washington’s Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity received a 7-year GEAR UP partnership grant to work with nine schools in four districts in South King County: Auburn, Kent, Renton, and Tukwila. We serve the Class of 2024 and Class of 2025 at these schools (except in Kent School District, Class of 2024 only):

  • Renton: Lindbergh High School, Hazen High School, and Renton High School
  • Tukwila: Foster High School
  • Kent: Kent-Meridian High School, Kentridge High School, and Kentwood High School
  • Auburn: Auburn High School

Interested to learn more about GEAR UP at your school/district? Find your school site coordinator’s contact information here!