May 2022 - Daniel Bazan - Communications Director
On April 26th, 2022, our West Valley 2 students participated in the 7th Annual Mountain West Grand Prix at the Utah Motorsports Campus in Erda, Utah. The Mountain West Grand Prix is an electric car racing challenge with guidelines defined by Greenpower USA. This project-based learning program emphasizes applied science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills; however, this event also teaches students other skills like team building, fundraising, communication, marketing, and more.
The Greenpower challenge gives students a chance to learn by doing and engage in a hands-on STEM education challenge with their peers.
We are grateful to our USU STARS! GEARUP Partners who make this program and event possible for our students. Programs like Greenpower inspire students to engage in challenging fields and pursue higher education. 
Thank you to our on-site GEARUP! Coordinator Jackson Ockey, and GEARUP! Club Advisor, Nima Mirzaee. Mr. Mirzaee coached the students in putting the car together with the software and helped them prepare for the race.
Please watch the video below to see our students at the 2022 Mountain West Grand Prix.
about USU Stars! GEARUP
GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, is a national, federally funded grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. GEAR UP is a partnership of schools, institutions of higher education, state agencies, designed to empower partner schools and students.
American Preparatory Academy was awarded its first seven-year grant in 2012 in partnership with Utah State University STARS! to provide student services. Additional grants were awarded to the program in 2015, and 2017. The first grant closed out in the year 2019.
GEAR UP partner schools are located in both urban and rural settings in some of Utah and Nevada’s under-resourced communities. They serve an entire grade band, or cohort, of students at a school, starting in fifth through seventh grades and continuing to work with the same students through the first year of college. Jackson Okey is the site coordinator for our GEAR UP grants at the West Valley 2 campus. He works with administrators and staff to plan activities such as visits to college campuses, financial aid awareness nights, career club, academic support, and college and career fairs.
The USU STARS! GEAR UP office and partners support professional development and summer programs for schools and staff. Utah State University administers the GEAR UP partnership grants through the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services as part of the Center for the School of the Future and the School of Teacher Education & Leadership.
More about the Greenpower USA Electric Car Challenge - Watch the video below.
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