My Motivation To Become A First-Generation College Student

A desire for higher education is continuously increasing within the Hispanic community. The obstacles sometimes are because of tradition but many wish to facilitate and influence the community to strive for a better education. In the article "Desire for Higher Education in First-Generation Hispanic College Students”, Tamara Olive, researches the experiences of students with the desire for a higher education and a better future. The constituents, resulting from the research innate to the experience of the desire for a better education.

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

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

The WISE student summer research placement would be a tremendous help for me in finding out not only what type of science I enjoy to study the most but the program would also provide many beneficial opportunities for me. For example the program would provide beneficial learning experiences, the chance to meet new people with the potential to gain new lifelong friends, and new skills that will benefit me and potentially others further down the road in a workplace. The most beneficial opportunity the WISE student summer research program would provide for me is the unforgettable experience and fun of learning new things.

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.

Attending the University of Michigan is, without a doubt, one of the best decisions I have ever made. My classes have forced me to grow as a student and have undoubtedly presented an intellectual challenge that I had not previously experienced in my academic career; however, when choosing where to pursue my bachelor’s degree, I did not initially evaluate the financial cost that this would place upon both my parents’ and my shoulders. Between my sister, a recent University of Michigan graduate, and I both attending this institution as out of state students, you can imagine the collective financial strain that this has placed upon all of our shoulders. If you add on the cost of my aspirations for medical school, the cost of my higher education

I always see things in surface and never go deep. But when my life has no longer the same since 2008, I miss the time when I can smile like a child. I can't do before think because all I have on my shoulders is my family. I try hard to accommodate to a new and strange environment where it at the end strengthens me to a better me.

I utilized the University of North Florida’s search bar through the library to find my article. I typed into the search bar “motivating first generation college students”. I wanted to find research that explored different ways utilized by institutions to motivate and retain their first generation college students. This article is from the NASPA Journal which is a journal I have used frequently in the past as it is most directly related to my chosen field. The reference for the article found is:

What motivates me to go to college is my teenage daughter. She is my inspiration to better myself and my family .We has been through a lot in the last 10 years and this motivates me to better myself and my family.

The medical field and the military intrigue me. My father and sister are in the military: military runs in my blood. I also want to become an anesthesiologist because, through my trips to the hospital - due to my mother’s illnesses and my common colds- I have fallen in love with medicine. I’m pursuing a medical career, with the biomedical degree I dream to receive in college. Neither of my parents went to college right after high school, but both made sure to receive college degrees.  My parents play an essential part in helping me reach my goals.

We live in a society that the further you explore your education, the better chance you have in living a fulfilling lifestyle. I re-enroll to Allen School for medicine and science to reach my goals on better myself as a person. By becoming a student in the field of medicine and to widen my horizon. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete this program at the beginning of January due to a setback, from my parents. My dad was not willing to help me further my education because of financial reasons nor his wife because of their separation.

What three things initially motivated me to start college; first was being the sole sibling in the household without a college degree. Secondly, while completing a job application, I realized my highest level of education I could write down was “High School”. This was inexcusable, in my heart I knew I could rearrange my extracurricular activities, buckle down and earn my degree. Lastly, one of the biggest reasons; if not, the most important motivational reason was the personal challenge to myself. I knew better as a parent the importance of education, especially having the access, and means to professional engineers who could help me along the way. Above all as a fierce competitor, I’m no stranger to hard work, adversity or even failure, when

I am a confident, honest, and driven man who wants to revolutionize the world. Although I do not have straight A’s, I believe my experiences and perspective on life will allow me to succeed at the University of California. Growing up I moved around, experienced different walks of life, encountering various people and cultures living in places like Compton, Long Beach, San Pedro, and Torrance. I have multiple perspectives on what it means to struggle, therefore I want to go to college to help everyone.

All my life, I have grown up with a family around me whose furthest level of education was minuscule. They have all tried to encourage me to focus on school so I had options, unlike them. It had never crossed my mind that I had the chance to become what I wanted despite my background until I spoke to my cousin in Mexico. She had just graduated from medical school and had become a cardiologist. She became the first doctor in our family and it was such a rare thing for me. I had always tried my best in school but it was not until that moment that I felt a drive and desire to succeed. Since then I have persevered and pushed myself to continue to learn each and everyday.

What motivates me to go to college,to put hard work in,day after day, and to achieve my goals in higher education is my parents and myself. Since I started elementary school my parents have always motivated me to go to college. I was always a good student, but, when I had entered seventh grade, it all changed. I really did not care about school, i have been just whatever about school period. Then it hit me again in my junior year of high school. Freshman and sophomore I was not really interested in school and didn 't think I was going to college. My parents had a talk with me and that talk changed me. They were just asking me what am I going to do with my life if I didn 't go on with school and all this other stuff that made me think really hard. I didn 't want to make my parents think that their son was a failure, they raised a failure. I changed my ways and started doing better in school and now I am currently attending Cal State University of Los Angeles. Now they are more proud than ever, me being the first one in my family to attend a university. My parents will always be my biggest motivators.