SUMTER, S.C. — Sixty college acceptances and $1.7 million in scholarships is what one Sumter student is celebrating. The high school senior said her school's Gear Up Program has helped her achieve this accomplishment.
"I always made straight A's growing up, always the top of my class," Sumter High School senior Jada Collins said.
With a 4.5 GPA and extracurricular involvement from the orchestra to Future Business Leaders of America, Collins said she applied to 74 colleges. Most of the schools she's applied to are in-state, although Collins says she did apply to a few colleges in Michigan, Illinois and Virginia.
"Well, this could be an opportunity, and this could be an opportunity," Collins said. "And they just started adding up altogether."
Before she knew it, Collins said she had gotten acceptance letters from 60 schools and scholarship money.
"As they started coming in more and more and then people started noticing it, I'm like, 'Well, this is something that people don't normally do. I thought it was a normal thing," Collins said about the number of acceptances she was receiving. "This stuff that people don't normally have and do, so I started being aware, like, this is good. I'm making Sumter High look good. I'm making my principal look good, as well as my Gear Up counselor Ms. Gadson, so I was just proud of the moment."
"I'm just speechless. I'm just happy," Collins' mom, Sheronna Peterkin, said. "I'm just…but at the same time I'm not surprised because she is such a great student, always have been from pre-k to her senior year. She's always been a go-getter."
Peterkin said one older daughter did not attend the Gear Up Program in high school. She ultimately attended Central Carolina Technical College, but Peterkin said there was a "major difference for the best" compared to Collins' experience.
"It is a difficult process if you don't know much about it," Peterkin said. "When I heard about the Gear Up Program and spoke with Ms. Gadson and you know they're taking these college tours and just so many opportunities, I mean, I was just, I was flabbergasted. It was just amazing."
Collins got involved in the federally-funded program in seventh grade, working alongside three counselors like Audrika Gadson to learn more about going to college.
"I wasn't really a big person when it came to this college stuff," Collins said. "I actually started really focusing on it my senior year, but they have been amazing and incredible, bringing all the opportunities, and that's why I have these opportunities because of them. That's why my face is hanging up in the school, because of the opportunities they brought. So I am very grateful for that."
"The first important thing is getting with them in middle school allow us to gain a relationship with the kids to where they can believe in us and trust in us, be able to come to us and ask us for help," Gadson said of the Gear Up Program.
"As early as seventh and eighth grade gaining that relationship with them and bonding with them. Just so that when they get to high school, they know that they'll always have somebody with them regardless of because, you know, most times in high school, your guidance counselor may change," Gadson added. "Your principal may change, your teachers are going to change, but the one thing that doesn't change is the Gear Up counselors because we're always there."
As Gadson explains, counselors educate parents and students on topics like applying for financial aid, the differences in types of colleges and universities, finding the right major and securing housing. There are three counselors at Sumter High, with two counselors each at Lakewood High School and Crestwood High School.
Collins' grade is the first class to graduate with the program in Sumter School District. The Gear Up specialists worked with the same class throughout their senior year, helping students like Collins, who said she's now taking on a mentor role to help encourage younger classmates to consider college.
"I have a lot of people come up to me now. And so I just want to make sure I'm putting on a good character and showing them, you know, how to be a Gamecock," Collins said, smiling.
In the spring, Collins will graduate with the 555 other students in her class.
"Makes me want to cry," Gadson said. "Giving kids the opportunity and now seeing them leave the nest and see where life is gonna take them, it's heartbreaking, but at the same time rewarding because what would their life be if they didn't know these opportunities was available?"
"They had many activities together, and the class of 2024 grew up together, and Gear Up brought them together," Principal Anamaria Sandor said. "The support they have received from the Gear Up specialist, iIt made a difference because they were exposed to more college options, to FAFSA, to meetings that they have with all the students to make sure that they know how to apply to the college, what letters they need, what recommendation, who to ask for recommendation."
Of all the colleges she has been accepted to, Collins said she's deciding between Clemson University, Southern Wesleyan University and Wofford College, hoping to become a pediatric dental hygienist.
"It's like a new chapter you're flipping over another page," Collins shared. "So it is challenging sometimes but in the end, since I have so many people in my corner. It's been very enjoyable experience."
As for her advice to others, Collins said it's all about "being consistent about being consistent."
"Like you can set a new year's resolution, you know, workout for that first week. But what are you going to do after that? Are you going to keep going?" Collins said. "Keep God first and be consistent with being consistent. You know, just respect others. Put on a good front. First impressions are everything. Make sure your attitude is up to par cuz we all have problems with that, and it's okay if you fall down as long as you get back up."
