We want to ask your help in assisting with the GEAR UP Mentor Program. We
currently are seeking mentors to work with 8th graders from Franklin,
Orchard Knob, Dalewood, East Lake, and Chattanooga Middle Schools who plan
on attending either Brainerd or Howard High Schools next year. As part of
GEAR UP's goal to help inner-city students stay on a steady path towards
college, we will be matching 8th graders with adults like you who can help
our students make productive choices and keep on the straight road to
success.  The idea is to provide a very timely boost to a kid just as he or
she begins high school, the point at which an alarming number of inner-city
students fall by the wayside.  A fourteen-year-old who missteps at this
stage may never recover, and your involvement can help these students go the
right way as they find themselves suddenly facing weighty academic and
social choices.

Each mentor will be matched with one 8th grader this April. Starting in
September, Mentors will be asked to contact their mentees once a week,
including two face-to-face contacts each month.  GEAR UP provides each
mentor training and information on 9th grade issues, as well as guides and
suggestions for activities with mentees.  GEAR UP also hosts several events
for mentors, mentees and their parents designed to help program participants
get to know each other.

If you can help us at all, either by volunteering or spreading the word to
someone who can, we would be very grateful.  We have a large group of 8th
graders who could excel given the right tutelage, and we don't want to leave
any of these students out of the program.  If you or anyone you know is
interested, please let me know and I'll send you a brochure with full
program information and a mentor application form.  You can reach me by
phone at 757-1793 or e-mail me at [log in to unmask]  Thanks for
whatever help you can give to the GEAR UP Mentor Program.

Andrea Ringenberg
GEAR UP Coordinator
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Metro Annex 110
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403
phone: 423.757.1793
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