Summary
This welcoming session connects high school graduates who have not yet enrolled in higher education with the GEAR UP team and its services. Through reflective questioning and interactive activities, students identify current obstacles and challenges that have prevented them from enrolling in higher education. The session aims to help students understand that pursuing higher education remains an option and that GEAR UP can support them in navigating the transition from high school to a viable career through college or university enrollment.
Essential Question
What’s standing between me and my next step and what do I need to do to move forward?
Learning Objectives
Identify available GEAR UP services and how they support the transition to higher education and career pathways.
Understand the continued opportunities to enroll in higher education after high school graduation.
Demonstrate an understanding of the steps needed to begin the enrollment process for a college or university.
Snapshot
Engage
Through Walking Vote prompts and Beach Ball Talk and Toss, students explore career and college priorities discussions connecting personal values to educational choices.
Explore
Students reflect on post-graduation experiences and examine myths versus facts about college enrollment pathways through partner discussions and true/false statements.
Explain
Students create two SMART goals related to college enrollment with facilitator guidance and example goal templates.
Extend
Students share their SMART goals with partners to reinforce goal setting and connect new knowledge to actionable next steps.
Evaluate
Students complete the Needs Assessment and Rapid Feedback forms while submitting contact information for ongoing GEAR UP support.
Materials List
Lesson Slides—Now What? (attached)
Postcard—Now What? (attached; one per prospective student)
Postage to mail postcards
Beach balls for Beach Ball Talk and Toss
SMART Goals—Now What? handout (attached; one per student)
Needs Assessment—Now What?
QR codes for Bridge Needs Assessment, TREK Rapid Feedback, and Modern Campus link
Rapid Feedback forms, if necessary (printed; one per student)
Preparation
35 Minute(s)
Obtain contact information for potential participants
Schedule the venue and arrange for transportation
Coordinate with Art to design a postcard
Send the postcard to printing
Address and send postcards
Contact / invite partners and stakeholders to the event
Build the Needs Assessment: a Google form; insert link in Evaluate slide. (If you prefer to build your own form, use the attached Needs Assessment handout.)
Set up link so students can submit their contact information in Modern Campus (insert link and QR code into Evaluate slide)
Set up TREK form (insert link and QR code into Evaluate slide)
Coordinate with photographer to be present at event for documentation and outreach
Print an adequate number of copies of the SMART Goals template and, if necessary, prepare paper backups for students without smartphones.
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Display slides 2 through 4 of the attached Presentation Slides as desired and make introductions of the GEAR UP staff. If necessary, briefly explain GEAR UP Bridge the Gap services.
Ask participants to introduce themselves informally or use a simple icebreaker of your choice. Then show slide 5 and explain the Walking Vote strategy. Select 3-4 prompts to use from the list below and designate which side of the room represents their vote as you read each prompt. (If you prefer, unhide Slides 6-11 to use on the slide presentation.) Allow students a little bit of think time, then move on to the following prompt.
A $100,000 a year job that you absolutely hate or a $65,000 a year job that you love?
Have a flexible, predictable workday or a flexible, changing schedule?
Be your own boss and manage everything or work for someone else and focus only on your job?
Take out student loans to attend your dream school or attend a less expensive school and avoid debt?
Earn a degree in a “safe” field like business or major in a passion subject like art/music?
Earn enough money to live comfortably now or invest heavily for early retirement?
Have a large savings account and live frugally, or have no savings and live luxuriously?
Show slide 12 and ask students to stand in small groups (the exact number should correspond to the total number of students present). Explain the Beach Ball Talk and Toss strategy and direct participants to think about their responses to the prompts in the Walking Vote activity. This will help them process their decisions about enrolling in college and deciding on a degree program by asking why participants selected particular options. Consider questions such as:
What are the things most important to you:
doing what you enjoy?
doing something you're good at?
having stability or flexibility in your work, etc.?
After some group discussions, encourage students to reflect on their vote and how it relates to their decision-making and choosing a post-secondary institution (PSI) and career.
For example, considering the first question of a $100,000 a year job that they hate or a $65,000 a year job that they love: If they chose less money, but are doing something that is meaningful and that they enjoy, they may want to explore careers that allow for what they consider meaningful work instead of selecting a career solely based on potential income.
Explore
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 13 and have participants work with an Elbow Partner or a small group to discuss three questions about life after high school:
Since graduating high school, what are some things you have enjoyed?
What is something you didn’t expect or weren’t prepared for?
Now that you’re here, is there something you’d like to change or do differently?
Explain to students that they will participate in an informal true-or-false assessment based on a Strada Educational Foundation survey and the Fiction in the Facts strategy. Move to slide 14 to begin, pausing after each statement to allow think time. Click the slide again to reveal the answer and repeat the process through slide 17. Allow students time to discuss their personal opinions and judgement as you see fit.
Explain
15 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 18. Invite students to take a little time to create two SMART goals related to enrolling in a college or university. Ask participants to just think about the two most important goals that they need to accomplish to apply and enroll in a college or university successfully. After these goals are identified, work with students to make the goals SMART. Pass out the SMART Goals Template and help participants write out their two SMART goals. Remind students that a SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Extend
15 Minute(s)
After students write their SMART goals, invite volunteers to share one goal with an Elbow Partner, and then a second goal with another partner. Discuss how setting clear, time-bound goals can turn new information and motivation into real progress toward college enrollment.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Present slide 19 to have participants complete the Bridge Needs Assessment (a Google Form). Then, move to slide 20 and have students complete the rapid feedback (TREK) to have students assess the lesson and give their feedback on one thing they intend to do as a result of this activity. Finally, have them submit their contact information in Modern Campus.
Remind students that GEAR UP staff will continue to communicate with them and host future workshops to assist them with next steps of exploring degree programs at local colleges, preparation to enroll in the college of their choice, and understanding financial aid options and resources including technical assistance in applying for FAFSA.
Follow-Up Activities
This lesson aims to support high school graduates who want to pursue postsecondary education but have not yet enrolled in a postsecondary institution. After obtaining student data from this lesson’s SMART Goals activity and Needs Assessment, we recommend using that information for follow-up meetings with students. These check-ins will help the student plan for their next steps to support their goals and can be held in person or virtually (phone call, video call, email, messaging system) using either an individual or small group setting.
To help further guide conversations with students experiencing challenges with consistently progressing toward their goals, these check-ins can also be followed up with the lesson “Didn't See That Coming,” where students learn how to consider what could become roadblocks to completing a task and how to build a calendar to stay on track and to minimize surprises.
Research Rationale
Research indicates that students who delay postsecondary enrollment face diminished prospects for degree completion compared to those enrolling immediately after high school graduation (Andrews, 2017). While summer melt—the phenomenon of college-intending students failing to matriculate—affects more than one in ten graduates nationally (Miller et al., 2024), evidence demonstrates that targeted interventions can substantially mitigate enrollment barriers. High-touch counseling provided during the post-graduation transition period has been shown to increase immediate college enrollment by 14 percentage points and improve plan persistence by 19 percentage points (Castleman et al., 2012). Studies of GEAR UP programming reveal that college preparatory interventions emphasizing goal-setting, social resource development, and completion of key enrollment actions significantly improve both attendance and persistence outcomes, particularly for low-socioeconomic and underrepresented populations (Knaggs et al., 2013; Stephan et al., 2013).
Resources
Andrews, B. D. (2017). Delayed enrollment and student involvement: Linkages to college degree attainment. The Journal of Higher Education, 89(3), 368–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2017.1390972
Castleman, B. L., Arnold, K., & Wartman, K. L. (2012). Stemming the tide of summer melt: An experimental study of the effects of post-high school summer intervention on low-income students’ college enrollment. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 5(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2011.618214
Educause. (2025). New national survey: 60% of students who left college would return if given clear completion path; Cost is top barrier for those who never enrolled. Ellucian. https://www.educause.edu/about/corporate-participation/member-press-releases/new-national-survey-60-of-students-who-left-college-would-return-if-given-clear-completion-path
Ipholio. (n.d.). Skydance Bridge OKC [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skydance_Bridge_OKC.jpg
K20 Center. (n.d.). Beach ball talk and toss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3049
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Walking vote. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4126
K20 Center. (n.d.). Fiction in the facts. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/60
K20 Center. (n.d.). SMART Goal Template. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4250
Knaggs, C. M., Sondergeld, T. A., & Schardt, B. (2013). Overcoming barriers to college enrollment, persistence, and perceptions for urban high school students in a college preparatory program. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 9(1), 7-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689813497260
Miller, C. E., Phillips, M., & Ahearn, C. E. (2024). Leaks in the college access pipeline: Examining summer melt in a large urban school district. AERA Open, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241278314
MarkTriLuck. (n.d.). True and false symbols accept rejected. Vector [JPEG file]. Adobe Stock. https://stock.adobe.com/images/true-and-false-symbols-accept-rejected-vector/479228059
Pina, G., Moore, K. A., Sacks, V., & McClay, A. (2022). Good jobs for young adults can boost their lifetime earnings and well-being. Child Trends. Blog. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/good-jobs-for-young-adults-can-boost-their-lifetime-earnings-and-well-being
Stephan, J. L., & Rosenbaum, J. E. (2013). Can high schools reduce college enrollment gaps with a new counseling model? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35(2), 200-219. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373712462624