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PITTSBURG —
Dakota Taylor, Pittsburg High School senior, recently attended from the 2012 NCCEP/GEAR UP conference, held July 22-25 at the Washington, D.C. Hilton.
National Council for Community and Education Partnerships is an intermediary organization for public agencies, private and corporate foundations and their grantees. Most significant of its efforts is the federally-funded Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), which is designed to provide opportunities and services, including scholarships, to enable students to attend college who might not otherwise be able to do so.
Only about 95 young people from across the nation were selected to participate in the event. Russell and Tena Taylor are very proud that their son was one of them.
“He’s worked hard to get where he’s at,” his father said.
While he had a lot of fun at the session, Taylor said there was also a very serious purpose for it.
Unless Congress acts, on Jan. 2, 2013, all federally funded education programs, other than Pell grants, will be subject to a devastating across-the-board cut in funding. In federal jargon, these cuts are called “sequestration.”
“We want to stop sequestration,” Taylor said. “There would be an 8.9 percent cut in GEAR UP funding for all states. We want the funding to stay the same, or even be increased.”
He and the other youth representatives talked to their congressional representatives.
“I talked to Sen. Jerry Moran, to Joshua Yurek, who’s a legislative aide for Sen. Pat Roberts, and to Joshua Eannello, a legislative aide for Rep. Kevin Yoder,” Taylor said. “We talked about how GEAR UP has helped me. It helps for them to hear a personal story. Sen. Moran said it puts it in perspective how the program helps students go to college.”
There were several guest speakers, including actress Mayim Hoya Bialik of the CBS show “Big Bang Theory,” motivational storyteller D.J. “Eagle Bear” Vanas and James L. Applegate of the Lumina Foundation.
“I didn’t know Mayim was going to be there,” Taylor said. “She gave out calculators from Texas Instruments to everybody. These are top of the line, they’ve got color and everything. They’ll help with the ACT.”
The trip was his first time on an airplane.
“It was pretty fun when we hit turbulence,” Taylor said. “We flew a couple of clouds that were kind of shaky.”
Todd Biggs, who conducts meetings for GEAR UP participants at PHS, went along on the trip.
Dakota Taylor, Pittsburg High School senior, recently attended from the 2012 NCCEP/GEAR UP conference, held July 22-25 at the Washington, D.C. Hilton.
National Council for Community and Education Partnerships is an intermediary organization for public agencies, private and corporate foundations and their grantees. Most significant of its efforts is the federally-funded Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), which is designed to provide opportunities and services, including scholarships, to enable students to attend college who might not otherwise be able to do so.
Only about 95 young people from across the nation were selected to participate in the event. Russell and Tena Taylor are very proud that their son was one of them.
“He’s worked hard to get where he’s at,” his father said.
While he had a lot of fun at the session, Taylor said there was also a very serious purpose for it.
Unless Congress acts, on Jan. 2, 2013, all federally funded education programs, other than Pell grants, will be subject to a devastating across-the-board cut in funding. In federal jargon, these cuts are called “sequestration.”
“We want to stop sequestration,” Taylor said. “There would be an 8.9 percent cut in GEAR UP funding for all states. We want the funding to stay the same, or even be increased.”
He and the other youth representatives talked to their congressional representatives.
“I talked to Sen. Jerry Moran, to Joshua Yurek, who’s a legislative aide for Sen. Pat Roberts, and to Joshua Eannello, a legislative aide for Rep. Kevin Yoder,” Taylor said. “We talked about how GEAR UP has helped me. It helps for them to hear a personal story. Sen. Moran said it puts it in perspective how the program helps students go to college.”
There were several guest speakers, including actress Mayim Hoya Bialik of the CBS show “Big Bang Theory,” motivational storyteller D.J. “Eagle Bear” Vanas and James L. Applegate of the Lumina Foundation.
“I didn’t know Mayim was going to be there,” Taylor said. “She gave out calculators from Texas Instruments to everybody. These are top of the line, they’ve got color and everything. They’ll help with the ACT.”
The trip was his first time on an airplane.
“It was pretty fun when we hit turbulence,” Taylor said. “We flew a couple of clouds that were kind of shaky.”
Todd Biggs, who conducts meetings for GEAR UP participants at PHS, went along on the trip.
“Mr. Biggs is like a brother to me,” said Taylor, who has two younger sisters. “We went out to an Italian restaurant, and he got me to eat calamari (squid). It was pretty good.”
Students also got to do some sightseeing around Washington, D.C.
“I took pictures of the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the White House from about two miles away,” Taylor said. “I also saw President Obama’s security car.”
He’s now busy getting ready for his senior year at PHS, including football practice
“I lettered in football as a junior, lettered in track as a sophomore and a junior and was third in the SEK League Track Meet,” Taylor said. “I also lettered in forensics in U.S. extemporaneous speaking and Student Congress.”
He’s in GEAR UP and also in TRIO, which includes the government’s oldest college readiness programs and would also be subject to budget cuts.
A well-rounded student, Taylor also sings in PHS Encore, which he said would comprise 72 members this year because director Susan Laushman had done a good job of recruiting Pittsburg Community Middle School graduates for the vocal group.
“It’s going to be a fun year in Encore,” Taylor said.
