High school students learned to “ASPIRE Higher” at Eastern Oklahoma State College’s GEAR UP summer college readiness camps WILBURTON, OK

Rising sophomores and juniors from Oklahoma gathered at Eastern Oklahoma State College to attend four college readiness camps called ASIPRE Higher. These three–day camps focused on setting high school students up on the right track to apply and get accepted into college.

Once again EOSC GEAR UP teamed up with FOCUS Training to give these students one of the best camp and educational experiences of the year. This year’s camp included:

Fun activities that focus on the importance of grades and test preparation
Outdoor adventure course that allowed students to work on critical thinking skills while building a stronger team
Community service project where students worked on creating positive school culture by doing good deeds for fellow campers and taking those good deeds back to their school
Exciting team presentations that showcased goals that will prepare them for the college search
Building friendships through interactive activities, socials, and the “secret buddy” challenge

Students had a taste of college life from the start of camp. After checking into their residence hall, they started their first team challenge which was a scavenger hunt across the campus. Teams had to find and learn about important offices, classrooms, and resources that EOSC had to offer. Their college experience continued thorough classroom sessions, dining in the cafeteria, and even swimming in the campus pool.

The ASPIRE Higher sessions included:

Innovate Your Ideas. In this engaging activity, students were able to see the challenges of working on a team and how doing your part can lead to the team’s success.
Challenge Your Skills. Students learned about the different forms of GPA (Weighted, Un–Weighted, and Core) and ways to improve their GPA in high school.
Managing Digital You. Participants took a hard look at their social media presence and made changes so that they are setting the best examples through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Build Your Future. In this session students went over the college application checklist and made sure they were on track.
Develop Your Creativity. ACT preparation was the focus of this session. Through a creative challenge students were given tips to being more successful when taking the ACT.
Craft Your Image. Students gathered their high school information such as GPA, Test Scores, Involvement, Awards, and Community Service to develop a resume that will prepare them for filling out college applications.

There was a graduation ceremony at the end of camp in which students received a certificate of completion, the Most Enthusiastic Team was awarded, and a Camp King and Queen were crowned.

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a federal initiative to increase the number of low–income students who enter and successfully transition into postsecondary education. Eastern will receive more than $12.6 million during a seven–year period to help students and educators in 30 partner schools. The camps were free to GEAR UP participants.

Students from Camp #1 – Atoka, Crowder, Haileyville, McCurtain, Talihina & Wilburton:

Front Row: (FOCUS Training) Lauren Escobar, Alyssa Chang, Latrell Armstrong, & Vale Cardenas
Row 2: (Atoka) Nathan Airington, Jaxson Allen, Ty Brannon, Matthew Brooks, Sebastian Brooks, Matthew Clay, William Conejo, Thomas Fugate, Nicholas Gipson, Danielle Granger, Jesse Johnson, & Brandon Thomas.
Row 3: (Crowder) Aurora Buss, Kaitlyn Daniel, Olivia Rolland, Kaytlen Sennett, (Haileyville) Sonny Botts, William Copeland, Bobbi Kirkland, (McCurtain) Trace Murdock, (Talihina) Lauren Baugh, Heaven Brown, Bayley Kimall, Jordan McCormick, Echo Merryman, & April Osburne.
Back Row: (Wilburton) Karley Anderson, Maegan Fite, Robert Gill, Hannah Gockel, Gilles Goddard, Anthony Hernandez, Elisabeth Higdon, Tre LaMere III, Colt Petty, Allison Sellers, Zachary Sims, Charles Sorrell, & Trey White

Students from Camp #2 — Antlers, Buffalo Valley, Keota, McAlester 9th Grade, Panama & Rattan:

Front Row: (Antlers) Micah Blevins, Sabrina Cole, Ryan Lohrman, Corbin Owens, Heather Scott, Alexandra Sinns, Annalyn Smith, John Stout, Bryce Williams, (Buffalo Valley) Robert Kemp Jr., Breanna McPherson, Ashton Morris, Cordell Sturgeon, (Keota) Jackson Cole, Garrett Hayes, & Noah Turner.
Row 2: (FOCUS Training) Latrell Armstrong, Alyssa Chang, (Keota) James Whaley, Joseph Whaley, (McAlester) Jennifer Ashley, Isaac Briggs, Braviance Brown, Kennedy Bullett, Tyler Chaky, MaKayla Chapman, Desiree Felkner,Dalton Ferguson, Jessica Harris, Sarah Harrison, Cheyenne Hearst, Quianna Hearst, Destiny Hilton, Andrea Lawrence, (FOCUS Training) Vale Cardenas & Lauren Escobar.
Row 3: (McAlester) Gabriela Lopez, Zoee Lovett, Brayden McKelvey, Kaitlyn Michael, Davian Noels, Gavin Randazzo, Nathan Reynolds, Rachel Sherwood, Dakota Smead, Nancy Stahmer, Joshua Swartzlander, Hannah Webb, (Panama) Telissa Call, Kaylia Coleman, Mercady Nixon, & Courtney Phillips.
Back Row: (Panama) Alyssa Powell, Victoria Ryan, (Rattan) Ivan Baker Jr., Jackie Brown, Heather Dillishaw, Christopher Heady, Lauren Heady, Desarae Jordan, Shania Lawrence, Laura Loftin, Marin McClellan, Kayleigh Robertson, Johnathon Shores, DeAnn Taylor, Caitlin VanWorth, Brandon Wilder, & Paige Wilson.

Students From Camp # 3—Canadian, Clayton, Indianola, Panola, Quinton, Spiro, Stringtown Whitesboro:

Front Row: (Bokoshe) Talia Cox, Casey Price, (Canadian) Sean Cogburn, Jessica Decker, Colton Luna, Neva Northcutt, Lily Romero, Brentleigh Rousey. Jenna Russell, Noah Westfall, & (Clayton) Zachary Bray.
Row 2: (FOCUS Training) Latrell Armstrong, Alyssa Chang, (Clayton) Jayden Freeman, Haley Reed, Christian Scarberry, Abrial Upton, (Indianola) Linda Eldridge, Anthony Stephenson, Jessica Swartwout, (Panola) Alyssa Calvin, Rosetta Coley, Alison Corcoran, Joseph Holloway, (FOCUS Training) Vale Cardenas & Lauren Escobar.
Back Row: (Panola) Cheyanne Sinor, (Quinton) Andrew Howell, (Spiro) Tory Eatmon, Melissa McClain, Christian Robbins, Jared Walker, (Stringtown) Austin Brutchin, MaKenzie Brutchin, Eric Magby, Jaden Parsons, Aron Smith, & (Whitesboro) John Cranford III.

Students from Summer Camp #4— Hartshorne, LeFlore, McAlester 10th Grade & Savanna:

Front Row: (Hartshorne) Morgan Arledge, Noah Daniels, Tanner Henry, Kelly Lott, Alexis Lyons, Madison McCoy, Jax Mendenhall, Alexandria Miller, Briana Nichols, & Dominic Ockletree.
Row 2: (FOCUS Training) Alyssa Chang (Hartshorne) Scotlin Rizor, Shelby Tushka, (LeFlore) Sadie Brown, Daniel Rodriguez, Jerra Scott, Emily Sinclair, Karlie Young, (McAlester) Thomas Barton, Dakota Breshears, Lucas Cable, & (FOCUS Training) Lauren Escobar.
Row 3: (FOCUS Training) Latrell Armstrong, (McAlester) Jonathan Delcid, Matthew Helmer, Kaitlyn King, Dillon Lanford, Pamela Patton, Angel Sharpe, Colin Smith, Michael Williams, (Savanna) Leah Back, Martin DelaGarza, & (FOCUS Training) Vale Cardenas.
Back Row: (Savanna) Nathan Gilliland, Nicholas Gilliland, Ariel Hall, David Hall, Emily Kinsey, Breanna Lambert, Emily Patton, Michael Strain, Jacob Tate, & Shelby Underwood.