I have always been my own motivator and it has not always been easy. Being a first-generation college student meant going it on my own, making mistakes and learning from them. At the start of my college adventure I met Professor Michelle Field who introduced me to more than my love of Anthropology, but looking back she is now my inspiration to want to teach Anthropology. This was not something I knew coming into college, but some of the greatest things in life come together when you least expect them, you just have to be flexible. Moving to Bellingham to finish my undergraduate degree came at the most difficult time in my life only days after losing a parent, but Western Washington University became my new home and offered the fresh start I needed and the opportunity to continue to develop as a student that I so deeply craved.
Getting to this point in my academic career has been a balancing act. I spent most of my time as a part time student earning my Associates while working full time. Getting the most out of my education was always my primary goal and it meant working hard and managing my time well. I graduated with Faculty Honors and am currently progressing towards graduating Cum Laude at Western. I was able to not only take a heavy course load, but manage it well and remained flexible and grounded in the reality of what I could handle. Determined to expand my knowledge I wanted to not only to take a variety of courses during early undergraduate work, but as I
Being the first generation to go to college is a proud accomplishment, but I,’m really stress and anxiety about the process. I’ve so many challenges in the past, so this is just another challenge to reach my biggest goal. My parents didn’t go to college, but they’re the smartest people that I have know. They taught me so much and get me ready for life, I didn’t give up on anything because of them. By the age of thirteen, my family moved to America. Everything is just very hard for my family because of the different language and lifestyle. I was struggling with school, friend, and getting bullied for being different. At one point, I have to fake being sick just to skip school, but then my family helped me to realize my dream. I started from the bottom and to who I am today. I study so hard and very patient about getting to fully understand the lecture and getting a good grade on the tests. My parents are strict but never forced me to do anything, and because of that, it made me want to study more. I have lived in Boston for one year, and I was in the ESL program, that everything I learned was easy because I have helped from the Vietnamese teacher. My family decided to move to Lubbock, TX, because of family problems. Texas is where I actually study as a normal student. The school was very hard during my freshman year in high school because I didn't have any help, so I study like a robot every day. Since I was so behind compared to others. I actually have to stay up till one every day to study and catch up to what I have lost. I did it and so proud of what I have accomplished in a short amount of time. My GPA was 3.2 by the end of freshman year, and it's 3.73
Throughout my teenage years, I was the embodiment of the average introvert. The pressure to succeed and become a first generation college student in my family was overwhelming, and the constant battle of not being good enough defeated me. My parents only spoke Spanish, and were unable to help me with my school assignments. As I struggled with my academics silently, my self-consciousness and insecurities grew. The fear of speaking out in public was a lingering shadow that developed more, as I grew older. Being that English was my second language, I had always felt inferior to those who spoke English as their primary language.
Throughout high school, I have challenged myself both in the classroom and out in my community. By taking the honors classes, while participating in as many extracurricular activities as I can, I have learned the importance of balance and commitment. My school offered many dual-enrollment courses with conjunction to the local community college as well as Seton Hall University. These classes prepared me for the rigorous workload of college classes, while giving me the opportunity to earn college credits as a high school student. In addition to the dual-enrollment program, I have taken several AP classes that too transfer to college credits. I always challenged myself to take the upper-level courses because I want to be as prepared as I possibly
First generation college students are those who are seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree, according to UCLA. First- generation students can come from low, middle, or high income families without a history of going to college. Families of first generation students can either be supportive of the students plan for a high education or make them feel family pressure to enter the workforce right after high school like they did. First generation students often do not know their options regarding higher education and have fears about going to college and it’s cost. Currently, 42% of UC undergraduates are first generation.
Being that I am a first-generation college student, finding guidance as I matriculate through college has been tough. I do not have any family members that have went to college, therefore I solely depend on my university for guidance in my college endeavors and my career path. Due to this, I want to be a part of the TRiO Scholars Program so that I can gain valuable advice, counseling services, and guidance to graduation. The experience that I am seeking in this program is the ability to meet and connect with other students like myself. I believe that to be able to identify with students who have come from various hardships like myself, allows for personal growth and a sense of community. I hope to gain this sense of community by participating
Throughout my high school career, I had a great variety of classes ranging from Civil Engineering and Architecture to Anatomy and Physiology. I was, and still am, interested in just about everything. At the University of North Dakota, I chose to pursue an Interdisciplinary Studies Degree with an emphasis in Health Science and a Minor in Biology. This allowed me to tailor my schedule to include courses I needed as well as courses I was interested in. As evident in my transcripts, I took a little bit of everything and I loved every moment of it. Although I wasn’t yet focusing on a certain career path, I was certain that I wanted to ultimately pursue a career in the medical field. Specifically, I have recently found that chiropractic will allow me to enrich the lives of others while exhibiting lifelong learning
A first-generation college student is the first person in a family to attend college or any type of secondary education. This title “first-generation college student” has created a stigma for so many students making their time in college more difficult than someone who has come from a family of college graduates. First-generation college students often find themselves lost and without the edge of students who come from parents and/or siblings who went to college.
I am a first generation college student that has made it to a higher education. I see myself as the second daughter, that has come out the land of pride and production. I am from Richmond, California, but that’s just where I geographically from, when in reality I came from a strong family of immigrants. My parents both came to the United States as a young 26, and 24-year-old parents of one child. I did not come until two years later that I came, I came into the world, and was already marked with the name of an anchor baby. As I grow up I did not really know what I was, what I did was always question myself, am I just a reason to keep my parents here longer? Why am I called an anchor baby? I felt that I did not fit in but my schools I went to school always had a mixture of students. I did not know what I was or who I was, I had not direct connection to any ethnicity. When I was in elementary school there where a mixture of Whites, Asians, Latinos, and African Americans ethnicities, grow up in a multicultural area I didn’t think about race or class as much as late in life. Race was a topic that I did not really think and talked about until I was placed into a private school that class was visible, and I began to be more aware or class and race. I would not talk about race or class at school, but I would wait to talk about it when I would get home.
The self is interpreted by the individual and defined differently based on that individual. He or she as their actual selves and not pretending to be someone else to gain the satisfaction of others is the self. I am a first generation college student who grew up in one of Chicago’s most impoverished and threatening neighborhoods, Cabrini Green. My siblings look at me as a mother figure and role model. I became who I am today by the influence of my parents, school, and society. In this world, I will be a successful pediatrician at a children’s hospital where there is a need for people in this profession. Living mindfully and reflectively means thinking about your actions and self evaluating. When you live mindfully, you are aware of what you are doing and the consequence of your actions. Once you have looked back on those actions, you know that everything you 've done was mindful. What helps during this process is setting goals for yourself and self evaluation every day. Losing focus of your goals or being impacted by others can hinder someone during this process. The readings this semester have definitely had an impact on my thinking. They reminded of things about the education system, the government, and society that I usually don’t think about much but does cross my mind or I remember. It has for sure taught me that you can’t believe everything you are told from the people who you are suppose to trust or protect you. Which goes back to thinking for yourself. Immanuel
Study conducted by Hicks (2006), compared educational barriers of first-generation to non-first-generation students; first-generation students had dissimilar expectations of college, poorer academic abilities, lack of social preparation, lack of self-esteem, and more financial constraints (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000).
Since 2008, I have attended four different colleges, as well as graduated with an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, and earn a tech diploma in Fire Science. Certain subjects can be a challenge due to my kinesthetic learning style. My best way to learn is working with my hands experiencing physically. For instance, before I attended University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, for Natural Resources. I worked for three different agencies as a Forestry Technician, even though had no formal education in the area, but I still became skilled. Therefore, I went back to college after five years after graduating in 2013 from my first degree. As a non-traditional student back in college, working to earn a Bachelor’s degree. I have taken a variety of classes in social science, psychology, written communication, oral communications, report writing, fire science, General education, First Aid and CPR, criminal justice, natural resources, business math, college algebra, chainsaw, and some other classes in trades. Out of all of these classes the criminal justice, fire science, and natural science areas are my favorite and most interesting to me. My hardest classes I have taken was upper level math and my report
Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for
After a very short four years of high school where my college studies had also began, I find myself today attending Wenatchee Valley College. Here in Wenatchee I 'm continuing my college career to obtain my associates in arts and science degree in which will receive in the spring of 2016. Prior to choosing courses at WVC, I kept in mind the pre-med major I have planned to take up, and in result I have taken up a biology sequence; major cells, major plants, and the final series, which I plan to take in the spring, major animals. The remainder of my classes consisted course within the humanities, social sciences and the math departments. Between all the late hours I found myself staying up to study and managing a full time job, I would consider my performance a well-rounded decent one. As expectations for prominent academic achievement were imbedded in me from my family and school faculty in high school,
What do you think your professor thinks of the new generation of students? Well in this Article of College Students Today: overconfident or just assured? Regardless, they are our future. By a retired professor named Corwin P. King was surprisingly, both inaccurate and accurate about college life. In this article, Corwin King explains how different the new generation of college students are now compared to past college students were. Corwin King also talks about in his article, he explains how students now don’t have the respect like they used to. That college students demand that they pass because they paid for the class. Corwin King also talks about how the newer generation of college students aren’t very respectful and demanding. So he starts to make comments about the new generation college students. So in this paper, I will be seeing how accurate his opinions are in a survey for college students that I posted, and my own personal experience of being a college student.
Many students have had their own personal journeys into college. People experienced inspirations on their journey, whether it`s from a family member, mentor, educator or a personal event that occurred in their lives. In my journey into college I`ve been encouraged by many experiences in my life that has brought me to where I’m today. Various people have been a big part of my journey, giving me the encouragement I needed when I wanted to throw in the towel. For example, my mother, my educator Ms. Tynes and even my friends spoke life into when I thought school wasn’t meant for me.