As it celebrates 10 years, 1vyG conference returns to Brown

To prepare for the conference, U-FLi Center staff and students have collaborated with 1vyG's parent organization, EdMobilizer, since February, with Brown seniors and conference co-chairs Gabriel Herrera and Jennifer Tran leading the charge.

"1vyG has always been student led, and we really want to carry that from year to year," Tran said. "We can identify what first-gen students want and need the most, because we're the ones actually living that experience."

Conference attendees will participate in a wide variety of programs and events over the weekend, each designed to support first-generation and low-income students. Presenter panels and poster sessions, student-led workshops, professional development seminars and a career fair will be punctuated by opportunities for students connect on a more personal level, like a social mixer and community open mic night.

Each event ties into the conference's theme, "In Motion," meant to highlight the evolving needs of students, Herrera said.

"At first, the approach to advising and supporting first-generation students was very academically focused, with help for extra school expenses and textbooks and things like that," Herrera said. "Now, it's really grown beyond that into a holistic community. There is no one way to be first-gen, and similarly, there is no singular first-gen experience."

In fact, it is the vast and varied experiences of first-generation students that make the 1vyG conference so special, Tran said. By hearing from one another, students from across the country can bring new perspectives, ideas and frameworks back to their respective institutions.

"It will be really interesting to see what other schools have, what they can teach us and vice versa," Tran said. "I wonder how students can become more connected across institutions and how we can best advocate or each other."

1vyG's return to Brown is particularly meaningful to Tran and Herrera not just as conference co-chairs, but as close friends who were united through the U-FLi community and will soon graduate and venture beyond the Van Wickle Gates as members of the Class of 2025. The two met during their first year at Brown as participants in what is now known as the Kessler Scholars Program and were part of the inaugural cohort of U-FLi peer counselors.