Sophomore at East High School and participant in Utah’s statewide federally funded GEAR UP Education Program, Nia Jamshidi has been accepted to the Oxbridge Academic Program at Oxford and Cambridge.
In addition to her acceptance, she was awarded a $3,500 scholarship to help pay tuition for this summer’s program.
For more than two decades, the Oxbridge Academic Programs have brought thousands of young students to Oxford and Cambridge for imaginative teaching, experiential learning and cultural enrichment.
These programs are especially designed for students in grades eight to twelve who have high academic aspirations to pursue a degree in higher education.
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs or GEAR UP is a program sponsored by Utah Valley University to increase the number of low-income students to enter and succeed in post-secondary education.
GEAR UP provides students with opportunities to develop skills that are essential to college readiness. Counselors of the program help not only students but parents navigate the often challenging process of preparing for higher education.
Jamshidi immigrated to the United States when she was ten years old with her parents who sought to increase her chances of achieving her goal to study anthropology and paleontology.
She originally joined GEAR UP in 2006 to receive more information about scholarships but when she and her counselor heard about the Oxford Academic Programs they decided to apply.
“It is my dream to attend Oxford University,” said Jamshidi. “I was really happy when I found out I get a chance to see it this summer.”
