Southwestern Community College has received the largest grant in the college’s history, according to SCC president Cecil Groves, who said the nearly $6 million will be directed to public schools in the college’s three-county service area.

The six-year, $992,697 per annum award from the U.S. Department of Education will be used for GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.

The SCC program is designed to increase the number of income eligible students in Macon, Swain and Jackson counties and the Qualla Boundary who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

“We start with students in the sixth grade,” said Linda Dyke, SCC’s director of concurrent enrollment and former GEAR UP director. “GEAR UP encourages young people to have high expectations, stay in school, study hard and take the right courses to go to college.”

Sue Nations, superintendent of Jackson County Public Schools, said she was delighted with the award “because it is wonderful for our students to have those opportunities. I appreciate SCC for helping to make those opportunities available.”

GEAR UP provides long-term services helping students stay on track for college. Services include mentoring, tutoring, strengthening curriculum, teacher professional development, summer and after-school academic and enrichment programs, college visits, career awareness and job shadowing. GEAR UP also assists with scholarships when students reach college.

Students who graduate from college or post-secondary school will earn nearly $1 million more in the course of a lifetime than those who do not graduate from high school, according to Gene Couch, SCC’s vice president for instruction and student services.

“To prepare for the world of personal and professional choices in the 21st century, we must open the doors of college to all our students,” Couch said. “We must make two years of college as universal as high school is today.”

“If we raise awareness about college and career options among students who are now in the sixth and seventh grades, we can improve the odds that high school graduation for those students will be a step toward even further education — and a greater likelihood for a life of increased personal choices and a productive career,” said Laura Pennington, SCC director of community and resource development, who wrote the successful grant.

GEAR UP promotes rigorous academic coursework because, Dyke said, research shows that students who take challenging coursework in middle school, including algebra, are far more likely to succeed in high school and college.

For the program, SCC hires a director, one coordinator for each of the four school districts, and resource teachers at each school. These teachers supplement classroom instruction, including one-on-one tutoring for students and workshops on study skills. They also provide enrichment experiences both inside and outside the classrooms.

In announcing the award, Congressman Charles Taylor said, “As one of the original group of grantees, SCC has operated GEAR UP since 1999. In the last school year, the program served 3,113 students.”