Shawn Ramos and Benjamin Berrios were wearing wide grins last Friday at MS 80’s first annual curriculum fair. And with good reason: the seventh graders, together with 53 of their peers, were each taking home a brand new Dell laptop, theirs to keep until they graduate high school.

“A lot of students showed us they were having to spend many hours waiting for a computer in the library,” said Assistant Principal Carmen Toledo. “This allows them to do their homework and research at home.”

The laptops were paid for with the 2005 grant that the Bronx Institute at Lehman College received from the federal program GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs). GEAR UP aims to increase the number of students graduating from high school and entering college.

The fortunate 55 were selected from a school class of 275. Students were chosen based on school attendance, teacher recommendations, and a paper they wrote on why they deserved it. “I was in shock when I found out,” said Berrios, 13.

As well as rewarding these hardworking students and celebrating the grant money, the fair, held in the school’s auditorium, showcased some of the seventh grade’s best work. Thoughtful poetry and eloquent essays adorned the walls, and student bands played “Amazing Grace” and music by Tito Puente, the Latin jazz and mambo legend. PowerPoint presentations, created by students and displayed on a projector, told the story of each piece.

Toledo has other plans for the grant money, which is to be spent over the next five years. Starting Oct. 1, after-school programs including Robotics, Architecture and Engineering, and Meteorology will be offered to all seventh graders, with the purpose of enriching math and science skills.

MS 80 is one of 18 Bronx schools in Education Region One to benefit from the GEAR UP grant of $16.3 million (which has been doubled to $32.6 million by other contributing organizations). The funding will follow these youngsters into high school, where the Bronx Institute will work closely with each student. Among other things, students will be able to sign up with mentoring programs, tour colleges, and attend PSAT/SAT preparation classes and career awareness workshops.

Ramos, 12, already knows what he wants to do when he grows up: “A teacher or a cop,” he said, without hesitation. But he’s excited about what he’s heard of GEAR UP. And he’s especially excited about getting home and playing w