San Marcos CISD is celebrating, and rightly so. The district recently learned that it had been awarded a University of Texas – Austin GEAR UP grant that will benefit hundreds of students. The $2.8 million grant over 7 years is intended to increase academic performance, college readiness, the rate of high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment and the knowledge of students and their families about college options, preparation, and funding. It is targeted to follow the district’s 575 seventh-grade students through their freshman year in college.