By Maddie Cox, Staff Writer
First-Generation College Celebration Day takes place on Nov. 8. A first-Generation student is a student whose parents did not receive a bachelor’s degree. Cassie Maxwell, a Student Support Specialist in the Academic Success Center explained what the First Gen Forward organization is and what its goals are.
“[First Gen Forward is] an organization partnered with NASA, which is a higher education organization with lots of different parts moving to it for colleges and universities, as well as different programs,” Maxwell explained. “First Gen Forward is one of [the programs]. Their goal is to provide community support resources to first generation college students. Legislation also opened up a lot of doors. The date for the National First-Gen celebration day is for the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965. That is why it is celebrated on the eighth [of November.]”
Maxwell expressed the hope she has for first-generation college students to feel celebrated.
“The goal is to provide awareness and start the conversation,” Maxwell said. “Let’s see and celebrate the success of first-generation college students. It is an accomplishment for them and something to celebrate and be proud of, rather than, in a lot of cases, it can be more of a kind of a stigma. A lot of students don’t want to admit that they might need some extra help, so they don’t really want to talk about their first gen identity. This is flipping the script on that, hoping to bring awareness and let them know that this is something to be proud of and to celebrate. That’s the goal of it, and that’s why we wanted to participate.”
Maxwell explained the importance of celebrating first-generation college students on Ouachita’s campus.
“At least 20 to 23% is what we’re finding are first-gen students at Ouachita, and so some students don’t even know, so it’s a large part of our population here, which is why we wanted to be active and taking that initiative to reach out to those first-generation students, building that community,” Maxwell said.
There are many ways students can get involved on campus and support their first-gen peers. Maxwell explained what will be coming up in the near future.
“Next Friday, November 15, we have a first-generation coffee house,” Maxwell explained. “Several of our first-gen students will be hosting the coffee house at Dr. Jack’s at noon. We’re having online and on-campus First Gen Fridays, so people can be looking for some spotlights for students, faculty and staff who are first-generation students who have given a little bit of their story. There’s some blog posts that are going to go out. We will be posting on our academic fitness center social media pages, spotlighting and highlighting first-generation students and graduates.”
Maxwell explained that there is now a student organization for first-generation students. Anyone can join, regardless if they are first-generation college students or not.
“The club’s first generation has actually just gotten approved this semester, so we’ll be kicking off next semester,” Maxwell said. “We’ll be hosting information about that and have an interest meeting in January. We’d love for students to come support and hear information. If any students are interested, be on the lookout, but they can also come by if they have questions about being involved in the student club or anything else. We’d love to talk to them about it and get them involved in what’s coming up next semester.”
