550 area high school sophomore GEAR UP students from 30 schools learned how to better prepare for the ACT as they attended a virtual, three-hour workshop presented by Chad Cargill, Founder and President of Cargill Consulting, Inc. The workshop was sponsored by Eastern Oklahoma State College’s GEAR UP—Ignite Belief grant program. During high school, Cargill knew he needed to earn scholarships in order to attend Oklahoma State University. During his freshman year in high school, Cargill discovered that many scholarships were based on ACT scores; therefore, he took the ACT a total of 18 times raising his score from a 19 to a 32. Cargill developed his ACT test prep workshop based on his understanding of what was on the test and how to take it. Now, he travels full-time across the country teaching his workshop. The ACT is an entrance exam used by most colleges and universities to make admissions decisions. The purpose of the ACT test is to measure high school student’s readiness for college, and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. Students attending were from: Antlers, Atoka, Bokoshe, Buffalo Valley, Cameron, Canadian, Clayton, Coalgate, Crowder, Eufaula, Haileyville, Hartshorne, Howe, Indianola, Keota, LeFlore, McAlester, McCurtain, Moyers, Panama, Pittsburg, Porum, Poteau, Quinton, Savanna, Spiro, Stringtown, Whitesboro, Wilburton and Wister Eastern is in its fourth year of the $17 million federal GEAR UP grant, and will serve more than 3,000 students in 39 area schools for seven years. GEAR UP is a federal initiative to increase the number of low-income students who enter and successfully transition into postsecondary education.