By Kiley Garrett
First generation college students, you have your own day. That’s right, Nov. 8 is dedicated to you. You are the first person in your family that has attended college and you are celebrated.
In 2017, two organizations – the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and the Center for First-generation Student Success – held the very first First-generation College Student’s Day and had so much success with it that it’s officially become an annual day.
According to the Center for First-generation Student Success, in 2018 colleges around the U.S. brought in speakers, kicked off mentorship programs, and handed out first-gen swag items. They encourage colleges everywhere to use the day (and every day) to build relationships, involve leadership, and celebrate first-generation college students and their challenges.
“It feels nice knowing that there’s a day just for people like me,” said Eastern New Mexico University psychology student Deanna Maestas. “I had no idea [first-generation college students’ day] was even a thing.”
She admits that as the first person in her family to attend college she faces several unique challenges.
“There’s not as many resources,” she informed.
Maestas says resources like TRIO are important to her, helping her with things like degree evaluations and FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) applications.
“Things my family doesn’t know about,” she stated.
Maestas also faces unique challenges that other first-generation students might not; she travels to and from Roswell every day.
“I’m trying to move, but it’s hard to find a job,” she declared.
Another first-generation college student is piano performance major, Haein Shin.
“As both [an international student and first-generation college student] I have had trial and error such as culture, language and money,” Shin said. “[My family] did not like me studying abroad, especially music. They think with my major it will be hard to find a job and studying in the U.S. takes a lot of money.”
First-generation college students come in all shapes, sizes, ages and walks of life. Agricultural education major Shyanne Ussery is one of these students.
“Where I come from everyone goes straight into the oilfield, so it was not shocking that I was a first-generation student. It’s just the norm back in Hobbs [NM],” she stated.
Ussery said that her family was wholly supportive of her decision to come to college
“My family was super excited. They wanted me to make something out of myself. I wasn’t getting out of it,” she said. But there were some things her family couldn’t prepare her for.
“I didn’t know about FAFSA, registration, or how to apply for scholarships. I was unaware of the opportunities through campus life,” she informed. “My family, at first didn’t realize the load of work for college students and it was hard to balance time with them.”
With jobs becoming harder to get without a degree, more and more people are choosing to go to college, causing an influx of first-generation college students. Having a day that honors them and their struggles brings new ways to support them and that is important. Even though ENMU was not able to celebrate this year, they are already working on plans for next year.
Information from this article was compiled from https://firstgen.naspa.org/
