First Gen Students Discuss Challenges

UComm Author

03/06/2018 Added

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First generation college students talk about their motivations and the unique challenges they face.

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[00:00:01.320]Getting a college degree is super important to me.
[00:00:05.140]Overcoming the statistics within my family
[00:00:08.210]is the biggest bar I've set for myself.
[00:00:11.980]My parents didn't go to college
[00:00:16.520]so me being the first one to step on campus,
[00:00:19.860]like I had to like fend for myself
[00:00:22.897]and it was hard.
[00:00:25.460]And then like having to tell my parents,
[00:00:27.390]like oh yeah, this is what's happening
[00:00:28.990]and they find it cool, but I'm just finding it stressful
[00:00:32.000]'cause they don't know.
[00:00:33.800]I don't think I can put into words how much
[00:00:35.510]it would mean to me just having the opportunity
[00:00:38.010]to say that I graduated from a higher institution.
[00:00:44.340]There's so many little things that I didn't know.
[00:00:46.860]I didn't even know how to scan into a dining hall.
[00:00:49.140]Just how to get my in card.
[00:00:50.420]There's just so many things that as a freshman student
[00:00:52.610]I was unaware of.
[00:00:53.870]Most of my friends are not first-generation,
[00:00:56.710]so it's like kind of hard for me to connect with them
[00:00:59.420]because they know from their parent's experience.
[00:01:03.180]I think for me the biggest challenge
[00:01:04.870]is that I've faced as a first-generation student,
[00:01:08.210]would be family.
[00:01:09.310]Even just scheduling little things, like my schedule,
[00:01:12.010]I schedule it around the time
[00:01:14.280]I pick up my brother from school, take him to school,
[00:01:17.430]but I love my family and I'd do anything for my family.
[00:01:21.090]In high school and years perviously,
[00:01:23.440]I was like oh this is gonna be something to do.
[00:01:26.050]This is gonna be like a smooth ride
[00:01:30.240]and coming here has just been really bumpy
[00:01:32.580]and me just being like forced to be an adult now.
[00:01:37.379]It's nice, but it's also very frustrating at times.
[00:01:40.860]I definitely think one of the other bigger challenges
[00:01:43.300]is utilizing the amount of resources that are on campus.
[00:01:46.660]Being first gen, I didn't realize how many
[00:01:48.670]types of things they have to help you succeed,
[00:01:51.330]whether it's like the writing center,
[00:01:53.160]math resource center or first year experience office
[00:01:55.690]or something like that.
[00:02:00.750]Friends mostly.
[00:02:03.090]Friends and talking to my family
[00:02:05.740]about what's happening since they don't really know,
[00:02:08.470]but they get the information through me
[00:02:11.220]and then my friends, I'll tell them certain things
[00:02:14.100]and they'll be like, oh well we don't have
[00:02:16.610]to focus about that right now
[00:02:18.853]or I'm going through the same thing.
[00:02:20.160]So we talk about it and it helps me
[00:02:22.300]because I know I'm not alone with paying bills and stuff.
[00:02:25.740]I know for me, Oasis helped me a lot.
[00:02:30.260]What resources are where.
[00:02:32.880]Like time management, study skills,
[00:02:36.420]how to talk to professors and how to review your syllabus.
[00:02:39.030]If it wasn't for my mentors, if it wasn't for those
[00:02:41.717]little lectures that we should know,
[00:02:43.710]like college one-on-one, I think I'd probably be lost.
[00:02:46.950]I was invited to be part of a program
[00:02:49.670]called First Husker that's put on
[00:02:51.360]by first year experience and transition programs.
[00:02:54.025]They basically have a four day program
[00:02:56.600]before classes start you get to move in early
[00:02:58.740]and they basically teach you so many things.
[00:03:01.320]How to succeed in large classrooms, money management,
[00:03:05.110]like test preps, reading strategies.
[00:03:07.900]So many different opportunities to grow
[00:03:10.360]and learn as a student.
[00:03:12.160]That program helped me so much,
[00:03:13.500]I'm actually a pier mentor for it now.
[00:03:15.620]The Dreambig Academy, which is a business academy
[00:03:18.093]that we take from junior to senior year
[00:03:22.799]has helped me a lot to getting that
[00:03:26.128]vision of what college is.
[00:03:28.480]Most of my friends are not first-generation
[00:03:31.240]so it's kind of hard for me to connect with them
[00:03:33.940]because they know from their parent's experience.
[00:03:37.690]Being able to connect with older first-generation,
[00:03:41.170]so like the teachers, they give me advice
[00:03:44.340]to help me with my first year on campus.
[00:03:47.470]I've been involved in it and I truly love
[00:03:49.790]my Mexican American student association.
[00:03:52.120]Just being a part of that, but also gaining leadership,
[00:03:54.490]which is something like first-generation students,
[00:03:56.616]we don't know where to start.
[00:04:03.130]I think the main thing for faculty is that
[00:04:06.130]they don't realize that first gen students
[00:04:07.920]aren't the type to reach out to them.
[00:04:10.150]So definitely I think the number one thing is
[00:04:11.870]to connect students with faculty
[00:04:13.515]in whatever ways that they can.
[00:04:15.880]Just in general knowing resources
[00:04:18.400]like where do I go for help?
[00:04:21.600]Who do I ask questions to 'cause I know some teachers
[00:04:26.610]they tell you, you can come into my office hours.
[00:04:29.830]I didn't quite know what office hours were
[00:04:32.060]until I had some inner classes that I went through
[00:04:36.270]in beginning of camp like my freshman year.
[00:04:39.870]So I'd say if we didn't have those seminar classes
[00:04:44.400]or if I didn't have them in general,
[00:04:46.930]I'd say I'd probably be a lost college student.
[00:04:52.300]We have some workshops and events now,
[00:04:55.130]but I feel like if we continue to do that
[00:04:57.210]maybe not every week, but every other week
[00:05:00.760]to have workshops and being able to connect
[00:05:03.160]with other first-generation students and teachers
[00:05:06.050]would be helpful.
[00:05:07.170]Just having a diversity one-on-one class
[00:05:11.200]for students to be open-minded
[00:05:12.780]and especially for students on campus to also learn
[00:05:15.305]the different cultural and diversity awareness.
[00:05:21.350]It's not just embracing it, but also just being
[00:05:23.850]aware of it.
[00:05:29.550]From when I was a young age,
[00:05:30.970]my parents always instilled, you're going to college.
[00:05:33.780]Like there's no doubts about that.
[00:05:35.950]My parents, since they didn't go to college,
[00:05:39.310]they struggled all of my life
[00:05:41.320]and continue to struggle,
[00:05:42.400]so going to college means that I won't struggle.
[00:05:47.400]I never thought that I would have this many opportunities
[00:05:50.820]at an institution like this.
[00:05:52.860]So just being part of the First Husker program
[00:05:55.790]and being a first-generation student
[00:05:57.270]has given me so many experiences
[00:05:59.460]I never thought I would have.
[00:06:00.470]So I'm very honored to be a first gen student.
[00:06:03.350]My brother is 13.
[00:06:05.210]He's an eighth grader so far.
[00:06:07.680]Yes, I feel like I'm a role model in a way
[00:06:10.100]because I even bring him to college with me sometimes
[00:06:13.823]just to see what college campus is about
[00:06:17.138]and seeing his eyes when he came into the Jackie Gaughan
[00:06:21.840]he was kind of like whoa you know I wanna be here.
[00:06:25.680]I'm the oldest of my family,
[00:06:28.540]so they wanted me to set an example
[00:06:30.800]for my younger brother and sister saying,
[00:06:32.840]oh so she's going in this right direction,
[00:06:35.070]I want you to follow in your sister's footsteps.
[00:06:37.800]So them seeing me going to college
[00:06:40.240]like inspires them to like, oh well my sister's doing it,
[00:06:45.230]so I can do it too.

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First Gen Students Discuss Challenges

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