Sewanee joins colleges and universities across the country in recognizing success of first-generation college students on First Generation College Celebration Day.
Nov. 8 marks the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act, which has helped millions of students become the first in their families to graduate from college. Below, hear from some past and present members of Sewanee's first-gen community.
"Being a first-generation student is surely challenging, however, with great support, I am thriving. I am very thankful for the Bridge2Rwanda Scholars Program and my friends who have been amazing support systems. To future first-gen students, I would say: I am proud of you, and you can do this! Explore all the resources available to you and utilize them to the fullest. They are meant to make your college experience smooth, and I am cheering you on!"
"I decided in middle school that I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it or what would come after. Now that I’m here, I’m realizing that I can push further and dream bigger. I’m thankful for the educators who mentored me, and I hope to do the same for others in the future. I think sometimes people describe first-gen students as doing ‘better’ than our parents by going to college, but I don’t see it that way. I’m proud to be first-gen, but I’m also proud of what my mom has done to give my brother and me opportunities that she didn’t have. I’m only able to do this because of her. My accomplishments are our accomplishments."
"I had to navigate a cultural gap with my family to help them understand that for me, higher education was about more than getting a higher paying job. Sewanee gave me the tools and the resources to live into my values and be who I wanted to be. By the time I graduated, I had done two internships with Sewanee alumni, traveled to China to perform research with a professor, been on countless Sewanee Outing Program excursions, and went to Jamaica on an outreach trip. After graduating, I was able to move to China after receiving the Biehl International Research Fellowship. Coming from a small town in Tennessee, my world had suddenly opened up."
"I want to have an impact on Sewanee not just while I’m here, but for future students as well. Hopefully, even five years after I graduate I’ll still be known as someone who led the way and advocated for my peers. Getting here wasn’t easy, but I did it thanks to the support of the Posse Foundation, Sewanee, my friends, and especially my family. I know I can do it because I have so many amazing people in my corner."
"My parents were sort of at the tail end of the generation that could have a successful career without a college education. It was never a question that I was going to go to college because, I think, especially for my dad, he couldn’t quite get to the level that he wanted because he had never gotten that degree. I’ve just started working in student success and career readiness at Sewanee. We’re broadening the idea of career readiness to think about how we’re helping students from the moment they come here to understand how what they do at Sewanee will help them succeed here and beyond. A real focus of my work is going to be on the students who do not come here with a sense of how to network and what it’s like to go to college."
"I felt lost for a good while in college, and I never attended office hours because I was always under the impression that my peers (many having had college-educated parents) were much more aware of the process than I was,. But, I was also profoundly grateful to be there—even as a self-perceived outsider, I was a grateful outsider."
"I’ve always been a realistic person, so I didn’t think I’d go to college. College is expensive. I didn’t want to get myself in debt, so I knew I needed to look for scholarships and grants and stuff. But I’m here thanks to the Posse Foundation. It’s been a little hard because my parents didn’t go to college. Basically, it’s been on me to do all the research, to know everything I have to do, and to know how to write an email to like the dean of students and faculty. It’s the stuff that if I wasn’t a first-gen student, my parents might have helped me with. And financially, it’s almost all on me. But between the Army and Sewanee, Sewanee was a better choice. I don’t know what would’ve happened in the Army, but here, I know I will be expanding my network through other students, professors, and staff."
"As the years have gone on, I’ve realized that if I talk about my experiences, then it will help students who might be like me and don’t know that I went through what I went through, and maybe I can serve as a model or example. It’s part of who I am and why I care about the things I care about. When I teach, on the first day of class, I use it as part of my identity when we introduce ourselves. I’ll say, 'I identify as a mother, as Appalachian, and as a first-generation college student.' I make sure that I state it up-front really clearly on day one in case there’s somebody in the class who needs to hear that. It has brought many students my way. Often, there will be students who hang back at the end of class or come to my office and want to talk about that."
"I had really supportive parents all the way through the application process, even if they didn’t know what was going on all the time. Completing and submitting the FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] was a really big ordeal and still can be even though we’ve done it twice now. But my parents and I were really active in researching the college application process, and I had some really supportive teachers in high school who were also willing to help."
"I understand—quite well, in fact—some of the uphill struggles facing those who do not have the safety net of family members who can informally mentor and advise them along the way. Being a first-generation student has made me profoundly grateful for the many opportunities that education provides and the doors that having degrees can open, which in large part led me to want to become a college professor myself."
"If I told my 18-year-old self all the things I’m doing right now, I definitely would not have believed it. I’m a neuroscience major with a double minor in biology and chemistry. I’m a senior interviewer for the admission office. I’ve been a proctor for two years. I’m also doing independent research for the neurobiology lab, and I’m in the process of writing a research paper with Dr. Chris Shelley. I’m going to be presenting that research at a national conference for undergraduate research, which is really exciting. My dream profession is to be a pediatric surgeon. When my parents look at the things my brother and I are doing now, they tell family members, 'We did not push them to do that! They found that on their own.'"
"One difficulty was knowing that once I go to college, it’s all on me. I’m not in this safe little bubble anymore. Sewanee has really challenged me in a lot of different ways, but it’s also changed me for the better. I've experienced the most personal growth here, especially in gaining independence, because I feel like I'd always really depended on my parents for most of my life. Because my parents didn't finish college like they want me to, there’s been a lot of academic pressure. But I’ve always thought that college is your turning point as a character—it will shape your entire life."
