Hi everyone my name is Jordan Passey and I will be participating in a graduate fellowship this fall semester with NCCEP here in Washington, D.C.  I am very excited for this opportunity to learn and be a part of the team that played an influential role in my decision to pursue a degree and future career in Higher Education.

I am currently a second-year Master’s student in the Educational Leadership and Policy program, with an emphasis in Higher Education at the University of Utah.  I first got introduced to the GEAR UP program back in 2012 and have absolutely loved working in this capacity helping students not only succeed in high school and graduate but then seeing them go on to college.  

Working directly face to face with students from underserved and low socioeconomic backgrounds for almost 7 years has opened my eyes to the many barriers and injustices that our students face on the day today.  Not only seeing what our students go through daily but also pairing their real-lived experience with my first year of grad school.  I feel like my eyes and understanding have been opened even more to the importance of education policy and advocacy in terms of access to Higher Education and especially to programs such as GEAR UP.

I am excited to be focusing my graduate fellowship on Higher Education Policy, and advocacy specifically working with the Government Relations team here at NCCEP. I hope to gain a greater understanding and perspective when it comes to Higher Ed Policy and advocacy work on the federal level.  I’m super excited for this opportunity and let’s go GEAR UP!