Hello. My name is Pat Estes and I am very happy to be in my 3rd year as the Gear Up Coordinator here at Lakewood HS. I have been an educator for 33 years, beginning my career in 1979-80 as a PE teacher/Coach at St. Joseph's K-8 school. The following year, I taught 4th grade at St. Helen's in South Gate. After that, I spent four years teaching 6th grade in the LAUSD (East LA). I came to the LBUSD in 1985-86 teaching at Starr King for two years, Garfield for six years, Mary Butler one year, Hudson four years, Patrick Henry seven years,  and Muir for two and a half years. In January of 2007, I became a Gear Up Facilitator at DeMille MS. I was at DeMille for two and a half years, sadly DeMille's final years as a Middle School. I arrived here at Lakewood in August of 2010 working with the Freshmen, Class of 2014. This year the GEAR UP Cohort are Juniors. The GEAR UP Grant runs through 2014.

My wife and I met at Millikan High School. We have been married for 32 years and have 4 chidren that attended Henry, DeMille, and Lakewood HS. Our oldest daughter, Harmony (Lakewood '04) graduated from CSULB and is currently working at Monroe as a Sp Ed Aide and working on her Masters after serving as a Missionary in Bolivia. Patrick (Lakewood '05) is  a Special Education Teacher at Stephens Middle School. Kaitlynn (Lakewood '07) is working as a Registered Nurse and working on her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing, . Tyler, (Lakewood '09) is a Junior at CSULB in the Aerospace Engineering program. He is working with an Engineering firm in La Palma.

Gear Up's mission is to increase significantly the number of students who enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Lakewood's 9th graders, Class of 2014, are Gear Up's Cohort of students. We want to see a significantly higher number of the Class of 2014 be eligible (A - G's), and enroll in a 4 year College or University.

I am also the AVID Co-Coordinator. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me through schoolloop, or call Lakewood at 562-425-1281  ext. 3107. You can come by my office (#135) located next to the Counselors' offices.