Geared Up

If selected, I plan to use the funding to expand and scale my organization across the country, and eventually the world. The first step would be for me to establish an office and makerspace for my students in the Dallas area. The next step would be for me to establish relationships with a greater number of schools and purchase materials to expand the program at those schools specifically. With the funding from the Elevate Prize, we can expand to schools all over the country, and we can expand to more grade levels as well. We may also be able to expand the number of disciplines we explore and add a hands on coding/robotics project that will help the students learn about each aspect of engineering in a multidisciplinary fashion. 

I grew up in Irving, TX, and I went to school in Irving ISD, a low-income school district. STEM enrichment opportunities were severely limited for me because of my family’s income, so I didn’t have the opportunities to explore different career areas when I was growing up. I knew that I loved science and math, but the only career option I thought was available was entering the medical field. So, when I started college, I started off pre-med, but I quickly realized that was not the life for me; I did not want to become a doctor. Around the same time, I saw a flyer for an opportunity to reinvent the Slurpee experience in the engineering school, so I applied and was accepted! I got to spend 7 days during winter break with 9 engineering students on a project for 7-Eleven, found my passion for mechanical engineering, and never looked back. I realized that not everyone was as lucky as I was. Not everyone had the opportunity to explore different areas in college, and I wanted to change that – I wanted to help students explore and find their passions at a younger age to prepare them for college beforehand. 

There is currently a huge gap in the education system; there is adequate STEM education in schools in higher income areas, but there is no funding for such programming in lower income schools. Only 51% of students in low-income zip codes attend college after high school in the US. This leads to these students not obtaining a college education, and staying in the lower-income areas. There's a huge gap in opportunities that leads to this disparity, and Geared Up aims to bridge that gap. Geared Up focuses on bridging the education gap across all schools to provide equal engineering and STEM education to students of all backgrounds starting in middle school. Geared Up is a program to provide resources for middle and high school students in disadvantaged school districts to become immersed in the engineering field through guest speakers, projects, field trips, mentorship opportunities, and possible internship opportunities. Students learn about different engineering disciplines and what they do and complete basic design challenges relating to the field and have the opportunity to tour an engineering facility. By the end of the program, students gain exposure to the world of STEM and the opportunities available to them.

Geared Up provides weekly sessions with mentors who can answer any questions that students may have; this repeat factor adds a personal touch and allows students to get comfortable and really bond with the volunteers, allowing for better and more candid conversations. Geared Up has a unique curriculum designed to cover 5 different types of engineering, and the materials used in the accompanying design challenges are relatively inexpensive, so students have the ability to recreate these experiments from home and try them out in different ways. Geared Up also fits a wide variety of student ages (grades 5-12) and has been adapted to fit many different school schedules. Geared Up prioritizes the student experience by providing opportunities for the students to get what they want out of the experience. If a student becomes more interested in one engineering discipline, the student has the opportunity to meet college students and industry engineers from that discipline, and if the student is in high school, the student eventually has the opportunity to potentially intern in that field through the Geared Up intern program. Geared Up opens the eyes of students to the opportunities the world of STEM and changes their lives forever.

The goal and mission of Geared Up is to ensure all students have equal opportunities to achieve their full potential. Geared Up aims to provide equal education opportunities and enrichment programs for students across the nation and eventually the world, regardless of their race/ZIP code/income limitations. Geared Up provides enrichment for students to prepare them for their futures and to live their lives to their fullest potential. Geared Up also focuses on disadvantaged schools, where the majority schools comprise of minority (Black, Latinx) students. I started Geared Up at one school in Dallas, built partnerships with the school and an afterschool program provider, then I expanded to 3 other Dallas-area schools the next semester and 3 schools in different states the semester after that. Throughout the process, I built relationships with teachers and schools to ensure buy-in from those stakeholders. After that, I expanded to 1 more schools in the Dallas area, and I'm currently looking to expand more widely around Dallas. I plan on establishing more partnerships with schools (5 more in Dallas + 5 in other states), but I also plan on establishing partnerships with companies for funding, volunteers, and internship opportunities for students.