GEAR UP for Success Summer Camp at MCC is in session: 6-week program brings careers in focus


MANCHESTER – With a schedule jammed full of field trips around New Hampshire, hands-on activities and games, meeting with first responders and essential workers and focused classroom activity, GEAR UP FOR SUCCESS Summer Camp is preparing 55 Manchester 10th graders for the next steps in figuring out their career paths while engaging in smile-inducing summer fun.

Manchester Community College has teamed up with GEAR UP and the Manchester School District to help those students who may be at a crossroads as they approach the time for making decisions about what they want to do for a living.  This special six-week program will help them with core STEM lessons while exposing them to a wide variety of job options for them to explore.  And because it IS summer, the counselors and teachers at MCC and GEAR UP have plenty of hijinks in store as well.

“MCC is a perfect place to host this type of summer program, because we have plenty of room for fun and games, but we are also a backdrop for important skill-building these young people could take advantage of in just a short couple of years,” explains Brian Bicknell, President of Manchester Community College.  “Introducing students to hands-on careers that include robotics, firefighting, graphic design and electrical tech will plant seeds that may grow into the next generation workforce.” 

In between classroom lessons and checking out various college program offerings, students will gather frequently for some serious, post-pandemic, let it all loose fun.  Indoor rock climbing, obstacle courses, field trips to Odiorne State Park and the McAuliffe Planetarium, theater productions and graphic design activities will help these young people experience a broad spectrum of fun and games with purpose.

“We want to do all we can to help students develop critical social, emotional, and/or non-cognitive skills, like self-advocacy, self-awareness, persistence, self-discipline to persist in the face of obstacles,” says Stephanie Lesperance, State Director of GEAR UP New Hampshire. “Our games and our class offerings have purpose in that we are helping to develop these students into capable young men and women who are ready to take the next step in their lives.  And we find ways to make them smile and laugh and have a great time during the summer.”

The GEAR UP FOR SUCCESS SUMMER CAMP runs through July and finishes in the early days of August with trips to Fisher Cats Stadium, Canobie Lake and learning how to play pickleball.  The enrichment programs are partially sponsored by Liberty Utilities.


About Manchester Community College:

Manchester Community College is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire, and offers more than 60 associate degree and certificate programs for transfer and career training. Associate degree programs include allied health, automotive technologies, business studies, computer science, education, electrical technology, HVAC, liberal arts and welding. MCC also offers professional and workforce development, and customized corporate training. For more information, visit www.mccnh.edu.

About Gear Up New Hampshire:

In September 2016, Campus Compact for New Hampshire in partnership with the New Hampshire College & University Council were awarded a multi-year GEAR UP grant by the U.S. Department of Education to significantly increase the number of low-income New Hampshire secondary school students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post-secondary education or training.  In addition to promoting statewide awareness and promoting a college-read culture within the state, GEAR UP New Hampshire targets three regions by providing additional support and resources to schools in these areas.  These regions are:  the North Country, Lakes and Southwest region.  These parts of New Hampshire are rural and are experiencing demographic shifts and /or economic challenges.