First-Generation Student Support NSE Presentation

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05/07/2025 Added

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[00:00:00.000]Hi there. My name is Rob Russell. I'm the director of the CAST office here at Nebraska,
[00:00:06.600]the Center for Academic Success and Transition. And for the next few minutes, I'm going to talk
[00:00:11.420]to you about what being first-gen in Nebraska looks like, and then offer some help and tips
[00:00:16.420]to support your first-gen student. So first thing I think is important to get out of the way is to
[00:00:23.060]help define what a first-gen student is and why this matters. So we at Nebraska define a first-gen
[00:00:29.900]student by a student whose parent or guardian does not have a four-year degree from the U.S.
[00:00:35.160]Now, that is a pretty broad interpretation, and it means a couple different things.
[00:00:39.080]If a student does not have a parent or guardian who graduated from a four-year institute in the
[00:00:43.860]U.S. but has older siblings, they're still first-gen. If a student's parent or guardian
[00:00:47.980]graduated from a four-year institute outside of the U.S., we still consider them first-gen.
[00:00:52.880]If their parent or guardian has a two-year degree, first-gen. And there's not exactly a simple definition
[00:00:59.800]but the reason this is important is we want to make sure that every student coming to Nebraska
[00:01:04.400]has that same level of knowledge and they know exactly how and where to get help when they get
[00:01:10.280]here. This is a fairly new phenomenon. I am a first-gen student but I did not realize there
[00:01:15.780]was terminology for that until I started working in Nebraska in 2019 and I graduated from college
[00:01:20.500]a long time ago. And the reason why there's been a push for this is, again, college has changed a lot even in the last 10 years
[00:01:29.700]and there's so much information and there's so many different ways to navigate it that we want
[00:01:34.700]to make sure that not a single person is left behind. And as we'll see later, there's a really
[00:01:39.600]substantial number of first-gen folks at Nebraska. So it's in our best interest to make sure that
[00:01:45.320]every single incoming student who is first-gen understands the resources and help that is
[00:01:51.360]available to them. So what does this mean for students who are first-gen? Well, it means that
[00:01:57.200]they are the first in their family to do this, which
[00:01:59.600]can mean extra stress and pressure, absolutely. It also means they're learning a lot. Baseline,
[00:02:05.240]if everything is going really, really well for a student and they have no other stressors,
[00:02:09.500]college is still going to be stressful and there's going to be a lot of information they
[00:02:13.400]have to parse out. If they start adding other stressors in their life, financial,
[00:02:17.040]if they have roommate issues, et cetera, et cetera, it gets even more stressful and even
[00:02:22.420]busier in their life. Now, that sounds negative, but let me kind of shift to the positive here.
[00:02:29.500]It also means that they're going to be learning so, so much about themselves and so much about
[00:02:34.100]the world. The reality is, as much as we try to prepare students for college when they're in
[00:02:40.160]high school, nothing really prepares them until they're here. Now, I don't want to take away any
[00:02:44.900]of your students' achievements they had in high school. They deserve everything they had. But the
[00:02:48.460]reality was, if your student took college classes in high school, they were still a high school
[00:02:52.460]student taking college classes. When they are a full-time college student, it's a very, very
[00:02:59.400]different experience. They have to learn how to hold themselves accountable, how they're
[00:03:02.420]going to see the world. They're going to meet tons of new and different people. The other thing
[00:03:07.260]they're really, really going to learn themselves, and one of the things that we do in the CAST
[00:03:10.760]office, is help them understand how to take ownership of their education. If they, and I'm
[00:03:16.980]not suggesting they do this, but if your student does not go to class for two weeks, your professor
[00:03:21.280]is not going to reach out to them. Your student has to get up and go to class. They have to get
[00:03:25.400]up and do the work. Their education, and that's incredibly
[00:03:29.300]important thing for them to remember, but also really, really exciting. From my perspective,
[00:03:34.220]when we see students sort of have this aha moment and take ownership of their education,
[00:03:38.320]it is such a cool thing to see. Again, our office is a great office to know,
[00:03:44.360]and we're one of many academic resources on campus that your student's going to learn about,
[00:03:48.700]advisors, academic navigators, career coaches, and lots of other offices that are going to help
[00:03:54.620]them on their journey. If they don't know where else to go, you can tell them,
[00:03:59.200]go see Rob or somebody in the CAST office, and we can make sure if this is not the right place for
[00:04:03.860]them, that we get them to the right place. A good way to think about our office is we are not
[00:04:09.020]advisors and we are not therapists. We're somewhere in the middle. And I think that that puts us in a
[00:04:13.980]very unique position where your student wants to come in to talk about time management issues.
[00:04:19.360]Great. If they need to come in and just vent about their professors, great. We can have them do that
[00:04:24.120]too. So what does first gen mean for families and supporters? Well,
[00:04:29.640]it means more than likely you're sending your student off to do something that you haven't
[00:04:33.080]done yourself. It also means that you're trusting us here, faculty and staff, to step in and be
[00:04:40.000]the support system. And I'll get to that last bullet point in a moment. Those first two points,
[00:04:44.140]I think, really, really important. We here at Nebraska broadly do this work because we love it.
[00:04:51.620]Many of us, myself included, do this work because I wish there was an office like this when I was in college and I wanted to
[00:04:59.000]sort of be the help that I didn't have. And that's the mentality that most of us have here.
[00:05:03.880]We do this work because we love it. We love helping to guide students. We love getting them to that level
[00:05:09.060]they really want to achieve to get to. Right. That's really, really important.
[00:05:12.440]It's OK thinking about that first bullet point. And I can't stress this enough.
[00:05:19.260]It's OK that you haven't done this. And I think I've done this for a very long time.
[00:05:23.320]And one of the best pieces of advice I give to families and friends of students is,
[00:05:28.900]to admit that you don't know something is totally fine. Right.
[00:05:32.700]And I'll be honest, if a student comes in, he has questions about something that's not our expertise.
[00:05:36.580]I will tell them I don't know. I will find someone who does know or I'll send them to the right office.
[00:05:41.580]But it's OK to not know something. And I think that's a really important part of that journey as well, too.
[00:05:45.740]College shifts. Even in the last couple of years, there has been so many changes. It shifts very quickly.
[00:05:51.040]So there's a lot of new information constantly coming in. It's OK that you don't know this.
[00:05:55.380]It doesn't it. It's not a bad thing whatsoever.
[00:05:58.800]The last point I think is really important. You're learning, too.
[00:06:00.460]There's a lot of really fantastic resources, which I'll get into in just a moment that can kind of plug you in to what's happening with your student here.
[00:06:08.240]And having an open conversation with them, what's happening is really the best way to feel like you're a part of that journey as well, too.
[00:06:14.460]Now, that being said, our website, the CAST website, does have some resources specifically for families and students as well, too, if they would like to use them.
[00:06:23.820]The first thing that we offer up, if you want to follow this QR code, it'll take you directly
[00:06:28.700]to our website, which is success.unl.edu.
[00:06:32.140]But the first thing I want to mention is the first six weeks checklist.
[00:06:35.360]And what we do is we take all of the really important stuff that happens in the first six weeks and we distill it down to a bullet point list so students can check it off and make sure nothing important is missed.
[00:06:46.280]But also it's really good for families to print out and bug their students about and students hate when I say that, but that's the reality.
[00:06:54.140]Hey, it's week two. Have you done this? Have you done this? Have you talked to this person yet? We also have a
[00:06:58.540]giant list of navigating campus resources and every single campus resource your student could
[00:07:03.140]possibly need. If your student is unsure of a resource, if they're not sure where to go get
[00:07:08.480]help for something really specific, again, they can come into our office and we are more than happy to
[00:07:12.820]guide them to where they need to be. We also have some really fantastic documents. We have a key
[00:07:18.200]vocabulary and acronyms list because there are a lot of acronyms. We're the CAST office. There's
[00:07:23.400]CAS, there's CASNR. There's a lot of acronyms that sound a lot alike. And there's a lot of
[00:07:28.500]vocabulary that unfortunately I think a lot of people in our head assume everybody knows the
[00:07:32.660]definition to and not everybody does. So we have some sheets on our website that also break down
[00:07:37.040]what a lot of these words and terms mean that you're going to hear throughout NSE, but also
[00:07:42.080]throughout your student's college experience. Now, really quickly, I will say, if you're not
[00:07:48.100]familiar with FERPA, FERPA is a federal guideline that means that we are not
[00:07:52.660]allowed to give out information about your student to anybody. So if you try to call our
[00:07:58.780]office and get information about your student, we would be able to tell you that your student
[00:08:02.680]was enrolled and that's it. And I bring that up because it's really important to establish
[00:08:08.500]communication with your student early on. If you want to know how they're doing in college,
[00:08:11.760]they need to be telling you what's happening. And that communication is really, really important.
[00:08:16.580]The last thing I'll say about that real quickly is in high school, there's a lot of competition
[00:08:21.920]around academics. Students have to be on all the time. If a student needs extra help in math,
[00:08:28.460]they're probably not going to advertise they'd get a tutor. The reality is in college, they have
[00:08:32.680]to be open to good stuff. They have to drop whatever ego they have and ask for help. And
[00:08:37.260]part of that, and we can sort of normalize that by getting used to having these conversations
[00:08:42.180]with the students prior to them starting in fall. Hey, make a list of the resources you want to check out when you start
[00:08:51.180]Did you hear Rob from the CAST office talk about his resource? I think you should check them out and make a study plan with him or somebody in the
[00:08:57.060]office. And normalizing those conversations early and frequently is really going to help your
[00:09:01.720]student out. There are some other really fantastic resources on campus as well, too. There's an
[00:09:06.520]organization called First Gen Nebraska that puts on a lot of different events for students. As the
[00:09:13.360]PowerPoint here says, nearly a quarter of UNL students, faculty, and staff are first gen,
[00:09:18.100]which is incredible. So this organization has that little logo.
[00:09:20.960]You see this is first gen, and we put on events throughout the school year for students. It's a
[00:09:25.000]really fantastic way for your student to get involved and to meet other first gen students
[00:09:29.040]and faculty and staff. And we do this, and many staff and faculty, myself included, will wear
[00:09:35.380]first gen shirts or pins to show students they're not alone. And I think being seen is a really,
[00:09:39.760]really important part of that. And these events are always free, and there's always a ton
[00:09:43.880]of free swag that students get. There's also a first gen RSO. So RSO is Recognized Student
[00:09:50.500]Organization, and it basically is a club. That's what we call our clubs here. The first gen RSO
[00:09:55.520]does so many free activities and free meals and free snacks. Your students get lots of free food
[00:10:01.040]here. Last year, they went to a basketball game together. They've done a lot of cool sporting
[00:10:05.840]events. They go bowling. They do crafts and stuff like that. And it's a really fantastic way for
[00:10:11.200]your student to make friends outside of their dorm. And we really, really want to push that.
[00:10:14.980]If your student is local, and they're friends with people from high school, still in college, that's great!
[00:10:20.200]But one of the experiences of college that we really want to impress on students is to make
[00:10:20.480]friends outside of their circles. It's really, really helpful. Going to a club,
[00:10:25.520]like our first gen RSO is a great way to meet other people that have this in common.
[00:10:31.740]They're all first gen,
[00:10:35.920]but they get to meet people from every single different major on campus. And it's a really
[00:10:39.640]fantastic experience. And your student can sign up the first moment they step foot on campus and
[00:10:44.320]immediately start engaging with all the really fun activities they do. So the last thing I'm
[00:10:49.740]going to bring up is the First Husker Program. Which is
[00:10:50.460]program that we run out of the CAST office. We have a larger program called the CAST Power
[00:11:00.620]Program. And within that, we have something called the First Husker Program. This is designed
[00:11:06.720]for first-gen students. And what it is, if your student signs up for this, is they get priority
[00:11:11.620]move-in on Sunday, August 17th, if they're living on campus. We have what we call a four-day
[00:11:17.800]foundational program from August 17th to the 20th.
[00:11:20.440]and this is like a little summer camp. And what this is, is we put students in cohorts of about
[00:11:25.820]20 groups or 20 students. There's two student peer mentors that lead each group. And then one
[00:11:30.880]of us from the CAST office that also helps lead that group. Throughout those four days,
[00:11:34.760]they get to play games. They get to meet faculty and staff, learn about resources. We give them
[00:11:41.060]time to run errands, like if they need to do an Ncard or go to the bookstore, if they want to
[00:11:45.160]see what downtown Lincoln looks like. By the time every other student comes to campus,
[00:11:50.420]later that week, your student will know where everything is. They will know where their classes
[00:11:54.800]are. They'll have everything mapped out. It's also a really fantastic way for your student to
[00:11:59.940]get to know people, again, outside of their living experience, outside of their major,
[00:12:03.700]outside of their existing friend group. It's a really fantastic thing. Once that four-day ends
[00:12:09.980]and the semester begins, that same group of students that your student is with is part of a 12-week
[00:12:14.620]fall seminar class that we teach, that same group of students, and it really feels like a homeroom style
[00:12:20.400]class. It's really fantastic. All of this is completely free. It's a really, really wonderful
[00:12:26.400]experience that I cannot stress enough. We do only have 200 spots available, and registration
[00:12:32.420]is open now, so if you follow this QR code or go to our website, success.unl.edu,
[00:12:38.680]you will find information about how to sign up for that. If your student is interested
[00:12:42.760]and can make the 17th to the 20th deadline, I encourage you to sign up ASAP to hold your spot.
[00:12:50.380]We have found every single year that I've done this that a lot of students sign up for this.
[00:12:55.300]They get to campus. They roll their eyes. Why am I here? Why am I doing this? And by the end of
[00:12:58.860]that four-day experience, they are so bought in. They have made friends. They've gotten to know
[00:13:03.560]our office. They understand where resources are. And it's a really great way to make sure that
[00:13:07.220]your student is starting school and knows everything available to them. Now, obviously,
[00:13:13.500]this is a recorded Zoom, so I can't take questions. But if you have any questions, please reach out to
[00:13:20.360]me or anybody at my office, the CAST office. Again, our website, success.unl.edu. If you have
[00:13:28.380]any questions about the First Husker program or any of the services we offer, or just questions
[00:13:33.940]in general about your students' experience coming here in the fall, I am more than happy to help
[00:13:40.160]answer those questions. Thank you so much for listening.

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First-Generation Student Support NSE Presentation

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