Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) has been awarded a $602,550 grant for its GEAR UP Program. The grant, which comes from the Department of Education, will be used to alleviate the educational challenges faced by low-income students in Spanish speaking homes.

TAMIU will use funds from the Department of Education to implement the five year long GEAR UP Program. It will receive the first year allotment of $602,550, with the total amount of the grant potentially reaching more than $3.6 million over the next five years. TAMIU’s program, “Creating a Vision III” GEAR UP, will help students in the following school districts: Cotulla, Zapata County, Jim Hogg County, San Diego, Benavides, Carrizo Springs Consolidated, and Crystal City.

Cotulla, Zapata County, and Jim Hogg County independent school districts are in Congressman Cuellar’s 28th Congressional District.

“Providing our youth with easy access to a quality education has been a priority of mine and I will continue working hard to make sure that our students receive the best education possible,” said Congressman Cuellar. “I have always believed that intervention programs are great tools in targeting students who have never considered the possibility of continuing their education beyond high school. I commend TAMIU for working to identify these students, and I trust that this program will provide the students with resources that will help continue their education through college.”

The program’s goals include: strengthening existing academic strategies and implementing new programs to raise academic standards, providing academic support for students, improving teacher training, and increasing students’ knowledge of higher education and admissions. These goals will be achieved by developing an education program that will enable parents to provide a nurturing academic environment for their children.

The program will also provide academic assistance, counseling, tutorial services, and educational activities to supplement regular school programs before entering college. In total, “Creating a Vision III” will serve 930 seventh grade students from these school districts. The students will continue in the program through high school.

“This is a tremendous program with a strategic and systematic approach to increasing the number of Hispanic students graduating from high school, enrolling and graduating from college and thereafter improving their quality of life and their communities,” said Ray Keck, TAMIU President. “I’m especially impressed by the multiple approaches dedicated to the students themselves, their teachers and their parents, ¬each combining to reinforce the importance and availability of higher education here.”

Congressman Henry Cuellar is a member of the House Homeland Security, Small Business, and Agriculture Committees in the 110th Congress; accessibility to constituents, education, health care, economic development and national security are his priorities. Congressman Cuellar is also a Senior Whip.

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