The message on Juanito Moises’ blue T-shirt conveys his determination for an auspicious life after high school: "Turn your dreams into reality."
The Waipahu High School senior sported his GEAR UP Club shirt as he told a room full of students and lawmakers on Tuesday about his aspiration to be the first in his family to pursue and receive a four-year college degree.
The youngest of seven children, Moises, 18, emigrated from the Philippines with his family when he was 9 and learned to speak English in elementary school. He said his family, although struggling financially, supports his dream of earning a degree in civil engineering or architecture.
"For me, getting a postsecondary degree means a lot because transitioning from Philippines to Hawaii, we were going through hardships, like, for my dad, finding jobs and he’s been sacrificing all his time working every day just to provide food for the family and for shelter," he said.
He added, "(My dad) always tells me, ‘Just continue learning, focus on education, don’t think about the money. … Just continue on and focus on your future.’"
Moises, who holds a 3.98 grade point average, credits the GEAR UP program in his school for exposing him to higher education opportunities, including help with finding scholarships. He has his sights on California Polytechnic University.
Moises recently was named the 2013 GEAR UP Youth of the Year by the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, a national recognition that came with a $2,000 scholarship.
GEAR UP — an acronym for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs — is a federally funded program designed to help boost the number of low-income students who are prepared to enroll and succeed in college.
In Hawaii, it aims to help about 21,000 students each year in so-called Title I middle and high schools, where at least 50 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches, a key indicator of poverty.
The state Senate and House committees on Education held a legislative briefing on the program Tuesday on the Waipahu High campus, where Principal Keith Hayashi says GEAR UP funding is helping create a college pipeline for students.
GEAR UP Hawaii is run by the Hawaii P-20 initiative, which is managing a $22 million federal grant that runs through 2018. (Hawaii P-20 is a statewide partnership led by the Executive Office on Early Learning, Department of Education and University of Hawaii to strengthen the education pipeline from early childhood through higher education.)
Angela Jackson, project director for GEAR UP Hawaii, said the program aims to broaden college awareness, expand academic readiness and increase college success among eligible students. It sponsors workshops on financial aid and scholarships; opportunities for students to earn college credits in high school; and tutoring and mentoring, among other initiatives.
GEAR UP Hawaii also awarded two subgrants for programs to run within Waipahu High — the state’s second-largest public high school with 2,450 students — and on the Leeward Coast in Nanakuli High and Intermediate and Waianae High schools. Fifty-four percent of Waipahu’s students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch, while 72 percent and 68 percent of students, respectively, are eligible for assistance at Nanakuli and Waianae.
The two programs are designed to support a cohort of students from grade 7 through their first year of college. The Waipahu program is tracking the Class of 2014 (Moises’ class); the Leeward Coast program works with the class of 2016.
The schools have seen upticks in their college-going rates in recent years. Fifty-six percent of Waipahu’s 2012 graduating class enrolled in a two- or four-year college, up from a 33 percent college-going rate three years before. Nanakuli’s rate has grown to 43 percent from 27 percent over the past three years, while Waianae High’s rate has gone up to 41 percent from 36 percent.
"They gave me a lot of opportunities that’s preparing me for college and giving me a head start," Moises said of the program, adding that he’s been able to attend college-prep workshops on essay writing and test-taking skills for the SAT and ACT.
Fellow Waipahu senior Crisbell Nostares, 17, said the program helped cover the cost of her Advanced Placement courses, which allow students to earn college credits.
Nostares, president of her school’s GEAR UP Club, said about 20 seniors will be traveling to the mainland next month to tour several college campuses.
Aldrian Micua, 17, credited the program for sparking his interest in engineering by bringing innovative courses — such as 3-D modeling, satellite tracking and weather monitoring — to Waipahu High.
"I became more motivated and inspired to become an engineer," he said. "That got me going, like, ‘Yes, I love to do this. I want to do this for the rest of my life.’"
