Training the teachers of tomorrow has long been among the most precious missions of Longwood University. And while academic offerings have expanded dramatically over the university’s 187 years of existence—from nursing to archaeology, business and more—so, too, have the ways in which Longwood students, faculty and alumni impact K-12 education both locally and nationwide.
This past fall, Longwood’s educational mission received a $7 million boost in the form of a highly competitive Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs grant, better known as GEAR UP. Administered by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), the federal program helps empower local partnerships between higher education institutions, state agencies, community organizations and K-12 schools.
Already in motion on Longwood’s campus and at the 14 Virginia public school divisions that joined Longwood on the grant application, GEAR UP positions Longwood as one of three GEAR UP facilitators in Virginia, joining James Madison University and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia in Richmond. The program targets low-income K-12 schools with the goal of raising student awareness about opportunities for postsecondary education, increasing exposure to STEM-related careers, and improving student achievement in areas such as graduation rate, absenteeism and enrollment in Algebra I by ninth grade.
The real reason Longwood would be interested in something like this is that it directly serves our institutional mission.
Dr. Alix Fink, associate provost for research and academic initiatives
“The real reason Longwood would be interested in something like this is that it directly serves our institutional mission,” said Dr. Alix Fink, associate provost for research and academic initiatives at Longwood, who supported Dr. Paula Leach, Longwood’s director of the Institute for Teaching Through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP) and K-12 outreach, in the grant application process.
“It’s critical to these school districts that have very high rates of free and reduced lunch and many, many families living in poverty,” said Fink, who is also a professor of biology. “This is absolutely mission-relevant for us in terms of our role in promoting prosperity in our region. We can make a difference with this program.”
Awarded and overseen by the DOE’s Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), the GEAR UP initiative focuses on cohorts of students and exposes them to STEM and higher education-based programming starting in seventh grade and continuing throughout the remainder of their K-12 education. Longwood’s cohort, which includes more than 2,200 students across 14 partner school divisions that also signed on to the grant, started as seventh-graders during the 2025-26 academic year and will continue to take part in GEAR UP until their graduation in 2031.
“The idea is that if we get them in middle school and work with them very intentionally across their whole experience through middle and high school, then we’re hopefully sending more of them to a college—whether it’s community college, a four-year school or whatever it is,” Fink said.
As the GEAR UP facilitator, Longwood’s role in the project is twofold. First, the university will use the grant funding to create new or enhance existing programming that directly benefits the student cohort. That includes campus visits, professional development for their teachers and mentoring for students.
Second, Longwood will oversee and assist partner schools—which range from local Region 8 schools such as Prince Edward County Public Schools all the way to Allegheny Highlands—in implementing their own related programming. Each of those school divisions will receive dollar amounts ranging from $20,000 to $45,000 annually to pursue their own initiatives, which vary by school but include workshops for students and parents, professional development for teachers, and higher-level academic offerings through AP and dual-enrollment courses.
“There’s a lot of flexibility in the activities because ‘increasing academic achievement’ can cover so much,” Leach said.
Leach added that GEAR UP is structured to allow for years-long planning that tracks with the student cohort’s journey from middle through high school.
“The nice thing is that schools will receive funding every year of the grant, so they can map out a seven- or eight-year plan for the cohort as they move to graduation,” she said. “For example, they could focus on professional development for their teachers this year, and, when the cohort gets to high school, they can focus more on supporting dual-enrollment courses or facilitating overnight college campus visits.”
Longwood won the grant on the strength of a comprehensive, long-term plan focused on specific professional development opportunities, student access to Longwood’s campus and student-centric programming that grows with the cohort. That plan includes ready-to-implement resources and engagements from specialized professional organizations and agencies, teacher mentoring from Longwood faculty and staff and even a student eSports program that the DOE’s grant selection committee noted as particularly creative and engaging.
So many people have had the benefit of learning from a graduate of one of our excellent teacher-preparation programs. Our intentional efforts to support school divisions across Virginia expand that footprint even more.
Dr. Larissa Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs
“So many people have had the benefit of learning from a graduate of one of our excellent teacher-preparation programs,” said Dr. Larissa Smith, Longwood provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Our intentional efforts to support school divisions across Virginia expand that footprint even more. ITTIP, a longtime leader in professional development for teachers, is perfectly situated to coordinate the connections between the university and the school divisions, the schoolchildren and their families, and Dr. Leach—a former middle school teacher herself—is exactly the person to lead a successful GEAR UP program.”
Additionally, the grant fully funds two full-time employees whose focus will be solely on managing the grant’s implementation and recording and analyzing data related to achievement and postsecondary pursuits of students in the cohort. As a result, not only do students in the cohort and their school divisions benefit from the GEAR UP initiative, they also serve as examples for the long-term impact that investing in STEM and higher education programming at the K-12 level can have.
“The goal isn’t to make everyone go into STEM careers. It’s to make them aware of the opportunities,” Leach said. “If you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know it’s an option. If we don’t tell them, how do they know it’s a choice? It all ties into increasing academic achievement.”
That’s a mission Longwood knows well, for 187 years and counting.