County Commissioners declared this week as GEAR UP Week. Wilkes Community College, in partnership with Appalachian State University (ASU), hosted national best-selling author and motivational speaker Arel Moodie in celebration of National GEAR UP week. The GEAR UP –Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs – mission is to encourage young people to prepare, enter and succeed in postsecondary education immediately after high school. Approximately 1,050 sixth or eight grade students from Wilkes, Alleghany and Watauga counties attended the event at the John A. Walker Community Center on the campus of WCC. GEAR UP program funds are used to support students and their families to be prepared and have the resources needed for success in college. The grant-funded program serves a cohort of students (4,600 from Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany counties) in sixth through ninth grades and will continue to serve those students until they graduate from high school.