First-generation college students show what’s possible

We Americans like to celebrate firsts: the first human on the moon (Neil Armstrong), the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize (Marie Curie), the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court (Sonia Sotomayor), and so on. Another famous example is Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.

Firsts are memorable achievements, interesting and impressive in their own rights, but what is perhaps most important about them is what they represent.

Firsts show what's possible. Something never happened - and then it did. Firsts open doors.

On November 8, Indiana University Kokomo, along other institutions around the country, will mark the First-Generation College Celebration.

First-generation college students are students whose parents have not earned four-year college degrees. These students are worth recognizing and celebrating for a variety of reasons. First, we must literally recognize them - that is, know who they are - because they may benefit from extra assistance, since they may lack insights into the college experience. First-generation college students, in fact, typically have been less likely to persist and earn their degrees than students coming from families with more college experience.

I am a first-generation college student. My parents were wonderfully supportive when I was growing up, and I owe them a debt I can never repay for all that they did for me. When it came to college, they supported me in a variety of ways, but they could not give me an insider's view of, say, "impostor syndrome" or the struggles of navigating the "hidden curriculum" because they had not experienced these things firsthand.

Higher education has come a long way since I was a first-gen student at IU Bloomington in the 1980s. Today's staff, faculty, and administrators recognize the challenges these students face and strive to support them in ways that will improve their chances of success.

Second, because of these challenges, it makes sense for us to celebrate these students when they succeed. Earning a college degree is no easy achievement, and it's even more impressive when someone has had to overcome obstacles to do it.

Third, we should celebrate this kind of first for the reasons we celebrate the others I mentioned at the beginning of this article. When first-gen students earn college degrees, they show others, including their own children, what's possible. They faced obstacles, and they overcame them - and other first gens can do the same. When they do, they often will realize a host of benefits.

College graduates typically earn higher salaries, and research shows that, on average, they enjoy better health and even more happiness. These facts do not mean that college graduates are somehow superior to people who do not graduate from college. I don't claim to be a better person than my mom or dad, for example. They simply mean that a college education opens doors of opportunity and builds invaluable knowledge, skills, and connections that lead to success.

College makes a positive difference. This difference extends well beyond the impact on college graduates and their families. Communities benefit as well, since college graduates can do essential jobs, feeding the economy, and can bring knowledge and skills to bear on regional challenges in health, education, business, and more.

More than three decades after graduating as a first-gen student, I now lead a regional campus, IU Kokomo, where we serve a lot of students like me. In fact, last May, one-third of the students who graduated from IU Kokomo were the first in their families to earn four-year college degrees. In this sense, IU Kokomo and other regional institutions are "engines of change," making long-term positive impacts in their regions.

First Generation Day, then, is something for IU Kokomo and our entire 14-county service region to celebrate. I want to thank all my colleagues for the support they provide to first-gen students through the work they do as their advisors, instructors, financial aid counselors, coaches, informal mentors, and more.

Together, we all are breaking down barriers, creating firsts, and showing what's possible.

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