The USU STARS! GEAR UP acronym is our official title and is what we want people to know us by. It should be used in communicating any activities, both internally and externally, to students, parents and the public. It should always be written in uppercase letters with an exclamation point. A shortened version of the acronym USU GEAR UP is also acceptable, once the full name has been used.
GEAR UP
The GEAR UP part of the above acronym refers to the Department of Education's nationwide program and should always be written in uppercase letters.
Local Education Agency (LEA)
Districts and schools in the USU STARS! GEAR UP program are referred to internally by the Department of Education as a Local Education Agency, or Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in the plural form.
Site Coordinator
When referring to a specific site coordinator, his/her title should be listed as “[School Name] USU STARS! GEAR UP Site Coordinator.” The title should be capitalized immediately preceding the site coordinator's full name.
Utah State University
The Utah State University (USU) logos are registered trademarks, so it is important to use them correctly. We are part of the College of Education and Human Services at USU and must be displayed as a primary logo, partnered with the USU STARS! GEAR UP logo. See the documents below for more information and guidance.
When using photographs of individuals in social media, press releases, promotional materials, and other visual media, it is important to consider if a release/consent form from the photograph's subjects is required before the photograph is published or otherwise made publicly available.
When a Release is Typically Required
Get a signed photo and video release whenever subject includes:
Minors (i.e., anyone under age 18). It is very important to obtain a release/consent form for minors.
Students or parents, identifiable, and in a location for a specific purpose other than being photographed. For example, if a group of current students is in a camp on the USU campus.
Subjects/models are the primary focus of a photograph taken in a non-public space, are recognizable, and have been recruited specifically to serve as subjects/models.
Photo release/consent forms should be obtained from subjects/models in instances where an individual can be identified and is the primary focus of a specific photograph.
Sample release/consent forms in English and Spanish are available in the forms section of this manual.
Always get written permission to use someone else's photo, video, or design, even when the circumstance does not require a signed copyright release form; e.g., on social media.
Get a signed copyright release whenever the photo/video will be:
Put to commercial use (defined asselling the photo or video such as in a calendar or on a T-shirt) * Made prominent on our USU website
Included on print materials we cannot recall back (DVDs, viewbook, marketing brochures)
Questions about the use of photographs for USU STARS! GEAR UP may be directed to Jeannine Huenemann, USU STARS! GEAR UP Marketing Manager, jeannine.huenemann@usu.edu or call 435-797-0234.
When using social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) in your professional activities, it is important to observe general guidelines and remember basic social media etiquette. The suggestions below are meant to guide you. Broadly speaking, there are three things you need to pay attention to in social media:
How you conduct yourself
How you interact with others
The content you provide
Content: Tips on sharing your activities and successes with us
Social media offers an opportunity to connect and build your community and ours. The best way to use social media is show your students doing activities in the USU STARS! GEAR UP program. The easiest way to do this is to capture exciting learning activities, collaborative projects, and general fun through pictures. Here's how to start:
Catch a picture of your students doing a GEAR UP activity.
Make sure to check your school policy about publishing the faces of your students. If that is a concern or a confusion, or if you have students who are camera shy, consider taking dynamic pictures from behind, not showing their faces but their hands doing an activity.
Caption the picture with a short description.
Add hashtags or handles from this page linking our program and your school.
Share Instagram posts directly to your linked Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Post comments and/or pictures on social media sites and use hashtags:
#USUGEARUP
#MyGEARUPStory #IAmGEARUP and #GEARUPWorks
Final thoughts on social media - think before you post:
Sharing information with others online can mean that you lose control of it.
Remember the four characteristics of social media:
It's searchable - anyone, anytime, anywhere can find it
It's forever - anyone can find it today, tomorrow, or 30 years from now
It's copy-able - once found it they can be copied, shared and changed
It has a global invisible audience - even if your page is private, you can't tell which friend shares your information. You have no control over what your friends do with it
Media Outreach/Press Coverage
Reaching out to local media is a great way to increase community awareness of and involvement in your LEA. Inviting the media to events featuring the great work of your students and teachers will allow the community to learn more about your school and the USU STARS! GEAR UP program.
Steps for reaching out to the media
Write a press release or media advisory: Choose the format for announcing your event that best suits your needs. Press releases are usually a more general announcement while a media advisory invites the reporters to attend a specific event. In either format, make sure you cover the basic questions (when applicable) of: Who? What? Why? How? Where? When? (highlighting the date, time, and location of the event).
Designate a spokesperson, someone closely involved with your LEA, such as the site coordinator, to be a media contact, and include a name, telephone number, and email address.
Distribute the press release: Send the press release or media advisory out two weeks prior to an event to area reporters from newspaper, television, and radio. Be sure send the email to a specific person, when available, and to include the press release or media advisory in the body of the email rather than as an attachment. This will help your email avoid spam filters and reach a person.
Tip: If you or someone involved with your LEA has a relationship with the media or a specific reporter, have that person reach out and/or follow up. Also try reaching out to reporters who have covered your school(s) previously.
Follow up a few days before the event: Plan to email or call to remind a reporter of what your event is and where it is happening, and how to reach you. This will make it much more likely that your story will be covered. Before you talk to a reporter, prepare a brief recap of the event and why you think that they should interested in it.
On the day of the event: Prepare for an interview by choosing a few students and advisors that love to talk and are generally outgoing. Get their permission and make sure that you have a signed photo release form on file. Have them wear their school, USU, or GEAR UP shirts. Review talking points and rehearse with them, covering the Who? What? When? Where? and How? of the event.
Tip: Make sure you have contact information for any journalists that you speak to and be available to answer questions or refer the reporter other contacts in the program, as well as future events/announcements.
Send a thank you: Writing thank you notes to members of the media that cover your story and/or attend your event helps you to build and maintain good relationships.
Questions about this process or for help, contact Jeannine Huenemann, USU STARS! GEAR UP Marketing Manager, jeannine.huenemann@usu.edu or call 435-797-0234.
Sample Press Release
Sample Media Advisory
Talking Points
When talking to media and others, consider weaving your local story, experience, and numbers into one or more of the following talking points. This helps connect USU STARS! to the national GEAR UP effort.
Talking Point
Description
GEAR UP is a competitive grant program of the U.S. Department of Education
GEAR UP increases the number of low-income, minority, and first-generation students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
GEAR UP Is Community-Based
GEAR UP provides services at high-poverty middle and high schools. The program unites the entire community in a responsive, creative and research-based effort to get entire classrooms of low-income, minority and disadvantaged children and their families, ready for higher education.
GEAR UP Leverages Local Resources
Because GEAR UP is built around public-private partnerships, it enlists resources of government, industry, business, labor, community groups and places of worship alike, in the cause of helping low-income students prepare, enter and succeed in college.
GEAR UP Is Cohort-Based
GEAR UP works with entire grade levels, and whole schools, supporting low-income students and their families, starting no later than the 7th grade, through 12th grade, and into first-year college.
GEAR UP Is Research-Based
GEAR UP helps local school systems improve student achievement by providing them with resources, training and expertise to use the most effective and evidence-based interventions.
GEAR UP Provides Critical Early College Awareness and Support Activities
The program includes interventions such as tutoring, mentoring, rigorous academic preparation, financial education and college scholarships to improve access to higher education for low income, minority and disadvantaged first-generation students and their families.
GEAR UP Works
The program now serves more than 580,000 low-income, minority and disadvantaged students nationwide in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. Territories.
USU STARS! GEAR UP
Utah State University Sciene Technology Arithmetic Reading Students (USU STARS!) received its first GEAR UP seven-year grant in 2012, and has since been awarded three additional seven-year grants in 2015, 2017, and 2018. The program partners with schools in which at least 50 percent of the students enrolled are eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch. The program is cohort-based which means that it works with entire grade levels, and whole schools, starting in 7th grade through the first year of post-secondary education.
The USU STARS! GEAR UP program is part of the School of Teacher Education and Leadership in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at USU. Funding for USU STARS! GEAR UP totals around $64 million across all grants, providing direct services to nearly 13,000 students starting in 7th grade. With the program's dollar-for-dollar cost share requirement, the total program investment into Utah's schools will be $128 million. The program works to leverage local communities' assets to enhance students' academic achievement and college readiness in preparation for realizing their education and career goal.
Developing a GEAR UP Webpage
It is important for each partner school to have a GEAR UP presence on their school's website. Students and parents are likely to search for information relating to GEAR UP on your school's website, and having a page can help them understand how the program can serve them best. The webpage can also serve as a bridge to other USU STARS! websites and resources.
Below you will find guidance for creating a GEAR UP page on your school's website. Contact your school or district IT personnel to implement the development of a web page.
Headers
It is best practice to start the page with a level 1 heading. Your webpage should only contain one level 1 heading. If you include headings level 2-6 on your page, make sure to nest them appropriately by nesting higher tags under lower tags (i.e. nest h3 tags under h2 tags, and h4 tags under h3 tags, etc).
Images
Use images only as needed. One or two can help a page flow, but too many will cause it to be cluttered and difficult to use. Pages with too many images or very large image sizes can cause a webpage to load slowly. Decide how large your image needs to be, and then using a photo editor resize the image to the needed dimensions before uploading it to your website. You can test image sizes on your page with tools such as placeholder.com.
It is also important to ensure each of your images have descriptive alt-text. Alt-text ensures your website is accessible and will display if your image fails to load for any reason.
Videos
Videos are a great way to convey information via a website. You can host the video directly or put it on YouTube or another video hosting site and embed it into your webpage. It is best practice to caption all videos to ensure maximum accessibility.
Content
You can develop your school's GEAR UP website to suit your specific needs, but we recommend explaining what USU STARS! GEAR UP is and who can participate, how to contact the site coordinator at the school, what the program offers to students and families, a calendar of upcoming events, and links to useful resources. We've put together an example landing page to help you generate ideas and get started. If you need ideas or assistance we are here to help - please contact Jeannine Huenemann or Zachary Stocks and we will be happy to help you.
Online Resources
There are many online resources that can be utilized to help students become successful and prepare for college. While many resources must be purchased to be used, some resource costs are covered by USU STARS! GEAR UP or are freely available to students in Utah.
TI will occasionally offer training to teachers that provide them with unique ideas to take back to the classroom. Graduating seniors also receive a software license for TI. Here are instructions on how these students can utilize this resource.
Students can receive 24/7 personalized tutor support through tutor.com.
Signal Vine (GEAR UP Texting)
Students can opt-in to receive assistance from GEAR UP Advisors in the form of text messages. In addition, they can ask questions and receive personalized answers all via text.
Shmoop provides engaging digital classroom tools and solutions aimed at easing the stress of the learning environment. There are tools available for students directly and others that teachers can use to support their curriculum.
Keys to Success motivates students to unlock their future by connecting them with scholarships, internships, and opportunities that match their career interests.
The Study Lab provides GEAR UP professionals with online learning through course content materials relevant to varying roles and responsibilities within the GEAR UP community.
Additional resources used by USU STARS! and other GEAR UP programs can be found at the NCCEP website.
