CAEO- Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

On a temperately beautiful California night, the electricity that naturally accompanies intense excitement was palatable in the air. Las Vegas-area high school students danced and shouted in pure joy, as they partied poolside at the Hilton San Diego Resort, celebrating college and the prospects of encouraging their friends and family members to pursue post-secondary education.

On June 28, 2010, Jerome “JYD” Williams and his brother, international youth activist Johnnie Williams III, teamed up with The Center @ UNLV’s GEAR UP program to take 87 deserving students representing nine Las Vegas high schools to San Diego for a four-day, three-night tour of area universities. The intent? Expose the soon-to-be graduating young people to the wide variety of opportunities awaiting them after high school.

To qualify, students readied themselves for the college tour by completing a rigorous three-week college preparation camp. Among other activities, they completed college applications, wrote personal statements and essays, and filled out college financial aid and scholarship applications.
Those who “graduated” from GEAR UP University were given the opportunity to participate in the California college tour where Jerome and Johnnie Williams provided an outstanding student-ambassador training session to enable the participating students and their peers to see college as a positive and attainable goal. The training also imbued them with the skills to help their peers do the same.

In addition to visiting San Diego colleges and universities; the students participated in team building/leadership activities. And, of course they enjoyed fun in the sun at San Diego’s amusement parks and the beach.

Thanks to the Williams brothers’ consistent delivery of positive life messages, generously blended with flashes of Hollywood excitement, the students enthusiastically accepted the GEAR UP/JYD Project challenge to “tag” at least five peers and encourage them to pursue college as a future goal. The event was unanimously judged a rousing success by both students and administrators alike.

Dedicated to ensuring Las Vegas-area youth every opportunity to succeed, the JYD Project continues to partner with The Center @ UNLV to encourage students to see education as the cornerstone of their future success in life.