One of the highlights of this year’s national conference was the Gearing Up for Excellence Youth Leadership Summit. Gearing Up for Excellence has been working with GEAR UP programs and NCCEP since 2003 to provide youth training, teacher development, and professional speakers. Some of the highlights of this years National Conference YLS can be seen on their website HERE.

GEAR UP isn’t about just one thing that happens just one time and then you are on your own. It’s 5,6,7 year commitment not simply offering, but maximizing from the available resources.

Having worked with tens of thousands GEAR UP students from 60 + cohorts, our belief is that while they have a lot to learn (in order to get to College), they have even more to teach us.

Justin Boudreau – Executive Director

Gearing Up for Excellence primary focus is that the students gain experience and learn skills that they can apply everyday, in the real world.

Today’s GEAR UP students are preparing for an increasingly competitive and ever-changing global environment. YLS and GEAR UP believe students need to be better equipped to perform well in the academic, workplace and social settings in order to succeed in college and beyond.

What kinds of youth leadership activities are you doing with your GEAR UP students?

The flagship program in NCCEP’s Youth Services programming is the Youth Leadership Summit. In an effort to include student perspectives and the opinions of young people, NCCEP created national opportunities for youth to participate in the NCCEP/GEAR UP Annual Conference. More than 200 GEAR UP high school students have participated in the Youth Leadership Summit since the inception of the program in 2003. NCCEP has been partnering with GEAR UP for Excellence to present the Summit since 2005.

Blending leadership development with the experience of participating in a professional conference, the Summit teaches participants how to be advocates for their schools and communities, empowering them to become the voice for their peers. Youth leaders, known as GEAR UP Scholars, work together to compile a Summit report focused on what educators should consider as they design strategies and programs for increasing student achievement.

The culmination of the Summit, and the highlight of the NCCEP/GEAR UP Annual Conference, is the presentation of the report to the conference attendees. For a half an hour, the Scholars are given the stage to voice their opinions and share their ideas. Conference attendees frequently comment that the Summit report brings a fresh and energized perspective that reminds them why they became engaged in the education arena.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO!  YLS 2010