I Am First Generation | December 2023
“I felt like there was this hidden instruction manual about college and grad school.”
Ensuring the academic success of first- generation students is important at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Through a collaborative effort across departments and divisions, RIT celebrated the inaugural “2023 I am First Generation Celebration Week” November 6th through the 9th. The theme: “Thriving Through Connections”. RIT first-generation students, staff, faculty and alumni got a chance to listen, learn, and engage with each other on important topics.
The event was led by Jazzmyn Ivery-Robinson, assistant director of Community and Belonging, and Alexis Byers, assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program. Both know firsthand what it’s like to be a first-generation student.
Byers remembers feeling like her peers knew something she didn’t when she was a first-generation college student and a first-generation graduate student: “I felt like there was this hidden instruction manual about college & grad school that everyone around me knew about, but I didn’t. I hope this celebration helps first-gen RIT students feel less alone and shows them that they have a community at RIT that supports them.” Many college students are unaware of their first-generation status, which can make it hard to access available resources and might lead them to feel isolated on campus.
The Center for First-Generation Student Success estimates that one in three undergraduates in the United States identify as first-generation, which the Department of Education defines as “an individual, neither of whose parents earned a baccalaureate degree.
The celebration kickoff at RIT took place in the MOSAIC Center for the RIT community with food, music and an engaging message from keynote speaker, RIT Minett Professor Sherry Perry Tshibangu who is a first- generation college student. Other activities during the week included a photo shoot with students who posted their pictures on the Division of Diversity and Inclusion (DDI) social media pages and shared their own experiences. The week ended with a First Gen Celebration Week Mixer, another opportunity to build connections, this time with RIT alumni who are all first-generation students.
The week allowed students to connect and gain valuable information about academic and support networks available to them including these DDI sponsored programs: McNair Scholars, the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and spaces from the Multicultural Center for Academic Success to the MOSAIC Center.
Darnae Pauley, a fourth-year criminal justice major and McNair student summed it up best. She said, "The First-Generation events hosted really helped me feel as though I am not alone in my journey of being a first-generation student at RIT. It is not something that is often talked about or highlighted, so having that space to be recognized was very impactful for me."