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First-generation (first-gen) college students make up a large population of undergraduates on college campuses nationwide. Ģ����ý is building a framework to ensure those attending the university find success and belonging.

Between 20 and 25 percent of Ģ����ý students are first-gen, which the university defines as any student in the first-generation of their immediate family to complete a four-year degree. While first-gen students may have proud and supportive families, many need guidance about the practical parts of college that their classmates may take for granted.

�Students whose parents and grandparents have been to college already know how to speak the college language. In general, a lot of first-gen students don�t know what they don�t know. They just feel overwhelmed,� shared Teena Brooks, coordinator of first-year advising, and a first-gen college graduate herself.

�Our initiatives for first-gens at Ģ����ý are taking the resources to them. They don�t have to figure out where to find support because we�re meeting them where they are.�

First-gen Fridays

The challenges for first-gen students vary widely. For example, one student may be struggling to make ends meet while paying tuition. Another might understand financial aid, but not how to approach a professor for advice on an assignment. A third may have excellent study habits, but not know that study-abroad or internship programs exist.

Because each first-gen student faces their own unique set of challenges, strategies that connect first-gens with various campus services and with each other have shown the greatest success according to Brooks� observations and research from the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics.

As a result, First-Gen Fridays began last year. The pop-up event appears on the first Friday of each month, allowing first-gens to explore campus resources, greet program advisors from all over campus and enjoy a snack.

On September 2, First-Gen Friday returned for the 2022-23 academic year with a table in the Daniel Rhyne Building where students could drop by to meet Brooks, members of the first-gen support team from the Learning Commons, Dawn Behrend, instruction and outreach librarian, and other first-gen students.

�Our first goal was just making first-gen students more visible to people. We have a lot of first-gen students, but they often feel like they�re alone,� said Teresa Swan-Tuite, Ph.D., director of student success and retention. �Just making them aware that they�re not alone and that they are supported has made the biggest impact so far.�

Learning the lingo

Thanks to First-Gen Fridays, first-gen students on campus have been inspired to create a new club � The First-Generation Student Association (FGSA) � where first-gens can support each other and learn the language of college together. FGSA now sponsors First-Gen Friday and has partnered with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Student Life to prepare for a campus-wide celebration on First-Generation College Celebration Day, November 8.

�Being in college is something my family hasn�t done. My sister went to N.C. State, but that a much larger, completely different environment,� shared Melanie Mora �25, FGSA club president. �We already have a small community at Ģ����ý, and being in FGSA makes it even tighter, so we�re closer and can help each other out.�

Mora, an international business major, also advises her fellow first-gens to step out of their comfort zone, join clubs and push themselves to get into campus life.

�It hard to do that, but it really is one of those things where you just have to because if not, you�re not going to make an improvement within yourself � and that really why we�re all at Ģ����ý, to make ourselves better.�