First degree

The journeys of first-generation college students

Video by Brian Buss | Photography by Matthew Staver

Sitting at a conference table in Lakewood, she answered questions during the second of two interviews with board members of the Colorado Garden Foundation.

The stakes were high: If Rebekah Buena presented herself and her aspirations well during this final discussion, she might earn a full-ride scholarship to Colorado State University, becoming the first in her family to pursue a college degree. Without financial aid, she would not be able to attend a university. The scholarship could be her launchpad for a career in landscape architecture.

Buena, a soft-spoken student from Denver, fidgeted with her fingers, her face flushed with nerves. As the session closed, she drew a deep breath and quietly asked, "What are you looking for in the person who receives the scholarship?"

After answering - the board sought someone studying horticulture, who was a motivated and successful student - Buena was ushered into a hallway to await the decision with her mom.

Then, the board called her back. One of the foundation leaders delivered the news.

"I think what we were looking for was you," he said with a smile.

Buena began crying.

"It was so unexpected," she recalled, sitting in the dorm room she now occupies at CSU. Even now, six months later, her eyes welled with tears at the memory. "It was life-changing for me because now I could go to school without student debt or worrying my parents about finances."

Rebekah Buena, a first-generation student from Denver, stands in the doorway to her dorm room at CSU, where she has started her first year.

This academic year, Buena is among 5,597 first-generation undergraduates attending CSU in Fort Collins - about 25 percent of the population. All are the first in their immediate families working to attain college degrees that could open doors to expanded career opportunities, financial security, and quality of life for them and, by extension, their families.

"When I think of a first-generation student," Buena said, "I think of a person who is ready to achieve dreams that past generations haven't."

Buena also is the subject of the debut video in a new documentary film series called First Degree, which illuminates the personal and academic journeys of first-generation students at CSU System campuses. The series, produced by the CSU System communications team, portrays the doubts and challenges first-generation students face in college, the benefits they hope to realize for themselves and their communities, and the ties between first-generation student success and Colorado State's land-grant mission.

"First-generation students are the foundation of the Morrill Act of 1862 and what it means to be a land-grant university," said Tony Frank, CSU System chancellor. "With that act, it was our country's conscious decision to open up college education to the children of the working classes.

"These students represent a vast reservoir of talent, and we provide the opportunity to unlock that potential. All of us benefit in the process," he said. "That's the promise and the potential of a land-grant university."

The First Degree docuseries features eight standout first-generation students who embody this concept. It is part of the 40th anniversary celebration of Colorado State University programs supporting first-gen students.

If there were any doubt about the connection between these students and the university's mission, it is worth noting that CSU's first three graduates were first-generation students. They made up the class of 1884.

There was Elizabeth "Libbie" Coy, the very first woman to graduate from any college in Colorado, who became a college instructor, an education advocate, and a Fort Collins community leader; George Glover, a farm kid from Longmont who went on to establish CSU's prominent veterinary school and grew into a renowned veterinary researcher; and Leonidas "Lon" Loomis, son of a colorful Fort Collins town founder, who became a prosperous Northern Colorado farmer.

"… [T]he leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."

-From the Morrill Act of 1862

Last academic year, in 2023-2024, 1,234 undergraduate degrees were awarded to first-generation students - students who carry on the tradition of that very first class.

"Our mission as a land grant university calls us to prioritize access and pave the way for student success, especially for those who are the first in their families to earn a college degree," CSU President Amy Parsons said. "Our first-generation students have so much to gain and so much opportunity at stake. They are pursuing degrees not only for themselves, but for their families and communities."

In 1984, Colorado State was the first university in the country to offer scholarships for first-gen students. The project became a model nationwide and has blossomed into an institutional priority. It is a key reason CSU's undergraduate enrollment is about 25 percent first gen.

In the 40 years since it began, the scholarship program has awarded more than $20 million to about 2,500 Colorado students. This year, 274 students are attending CSU with first-generation scholarships. Recently, 75 new first-gen students per year have been awarded renewable CSU scholarships, with a typical award of $7,500. That covers more than half of annual tuition and fees.

"We have a strong legacy of supporting first-generation students and always have a need to increase the resources because the demand dramatically exceeds our capacity," said Ryan Barone, CSU's assistant vice president for student success.

First-gen students, including Buena, often secure scholarships from other sources, and many attend college with a mix of institutional funding, state and federal support, privately funded scholarship awards, and jobs on and off campus. This allows first-generation students to graduate with no debt or manageable debt as they strike out to realize their dreams.

As is the case nationwide, there remains a gap between CSU first-gen students and the general campus population based on persistence in school and six-year graduation rates, which are two litmus tests of student achievement in higher education.

Yet, the first-gen students who reach graduation attain key milestones: 86% of first-gen students secure plans within six months of graduation - 68% are employed, and 18% continue their educations, according to CSU data. Of those employed, 85% have jobs related to their career plans. These rates are comparable to those for the total student population.

The First-Generation University Initiative, which expands on the First Generation Award Program, promotes a cohesive campus strategy for first-gen student success, increases awareness and visibility of resources, identifies service gaps, and links multiple CSU programs, allowing for seamless student referrals among them.

"When you are a first-generation student with unique experiences, it's important to have people around you who will validate and uplift those experiences," said Mary Ann Lucero, who was a first-gen college student, is co-chair of the First-Generation University Initiative, and leads CSU's Academic Advancement Center.

Lucero often shares stories of first-gen students who have transitioned into the professional world, creating a ripple effect of impact. "I have so much gratitude for students allowing me to be part of their journeys, and to see them get to the point of graduation is rewarding," she said. "Seeing the impact they're making - it's their legacy. It's beautiful."

From a pragmatic standpoint, supporting first-generation students pays dividends in professional workforce development, a more competitive business climate, and higher earnings that contribute to the tax base. But the reasons for support are larger than that, Frank said. "You can come up with elegant economic arguments, and you can check your conscience at the end of the day and know this is the right thing to do," he said. "The success of students is part and parcel of the higher education bargain. We have a responsibility to help them succeed."

It all started in 1984. Paul Thayer, who retired several years ago as associate vice president for student success, helped spearhead CSU's first-gen scholarship award program after he and colleagues noticed something important.

Students in federally funded TRIO programs, which serve low-income students, first-generation students, and students with disabilities, were remarkably successful when provided with opportunities and academic supports, such as tutoring, mentoring, peer interaction, and inclusion in a community fostering high expectations for success. Yet, many of these students might not have been admitted to college based solely on standardized test scores.

So, Thayer and colleagues proposed a university scholarship just for first-generation Colorado students - based on financial need and demonstrated potential for academic success, which included overcoming significant obstacles and undertaking leadership and community service. The first-gen population encompasses many students of color and others from groups underrepresented in higher education, so their approach would allow the university to reach a vital cross-section of students, Thayer said.

"It was revolutionary in the nation because it was the first award program of its kind and showed there are ways to identify students with talent and motivation beyond standardized tests," said Thayer, who was himself a first-generation college student.

Buena's research internship, which started on the green roof at CSU Spur, continues on the green roof of the Nutrien Agricultural Sciences Building on the CSU campus in Fort Collins, where she observes pollinators and logs data for a research project.

Thayer considers first-generation students pioneers in higher education as they pursue better lives for themselves and their families. When they are immersed in a climate of high expectations and a community of academic support, these students often show great character, motivation, and capacity for leadership, he said. This is evident in the First Degree docuseries.

"By giving our programs the name 'first generation,' we had a description of a different experience. Not a lesser experience, but a different experience," Thayer said. "Pioneering higher education for yourself and your family is an honor."

He continued: "These are the very students a land-grant university should serve. It's the idea that every person who has the capacity - the talent and motivation - should have the opportunity."

To Thayer's point, George Glover attended what was then Colorado Agricultural College with a loan from an engineering faculty member. In February 1880, Glover arrived on campus in his family's lumber wagon. Glover, from Longmont, turned too sharply at the college gate and knocked down a fence. Despite that bumbling start, he became a seminal figure in CSU's veterinary school and had nationwide impact with research into bovine tuberculosis, which was spread through milk and, at the time, caused deadly human disease.

One hundred forty-four years later, Rebekah Buena arrived at Edwards Hall in her family's minivan, with her mom, dad, three siblings, brother's fiancé, niece, nephew, and boyfriend accompanying her. They built a platform for her dorm bed, made it with new floral sheets, and toured campus during Ram Welcome. The wall by her bed is decorated with twinkly lights, and Polaroids of friends and family hang above her desk.

Buena, 18, admitted she had persistent doubts about whether she could succeed in college, with its rigorous academic demands, huge student body, and campus activities that were alien to her and her family. That was despite taking multiple college-level courses, including calculus and political science, while attending Bruce Randolph School in Denver.

But her mom, who had immigrated to the United States from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, pushed Buena toward higher education. "My mom wanted us to have a better life than she had, so whenever there's an opportunity, she wants us to take it," Buena said, while sitting in her dorm room. "She wanted us to do something with our lives that we love and want to do, not just what we have to do, and to have a career that will provide a good income and quality of life."

"We get to work with first-generation students who are changing their family stories. It's inspiring to learn the dreams they have. They often want to give back to their families and communities - to the ancestors who helped them get here."

-Miel McCarthy, director, CSU Scholar Success Programs

Her path to college started in earnest when Buena enrolled in a class at Bruce Randolph called Hort 100, a dual-enrollment horticulture course that offers both college and high school science credit and is co-taught by a CSU professor and a science teacher at the school. The class is an offshoot of CSU Spur, the university's public education and research campus in North Denver. It appealed to Buena because she had grown up working in the yard with her grandpa and had cultivated her love of sunflowers by his side.

Toward the end of the course, Buena landed an internship at CSU Spur, where she worked alongside Jennifer Bousselot, a CSU assistant professor of horticulture who leads Hort 100 and conducts research into green roof systems at the Spur campus. Bousselot, like many of her college-bound Hort 100 students, was a first-generation student. Buena maintained rooftop gardens at Spur, measured plants, collected data, assisted CSU graduate students with their projects, and even conducted her own research into the viability of growing "the three sisters" - corn, beans, and squash - in green roof settings.

Around the same time, Buena joined a school field trip to a Denver architecture firm, where she saw the workings of a career that interests her. Then, Bousselot introduced Buena to another career possibility - landscape architecture - which joins her burgeoning interests. It clicked. Suddenly, Buena could see herself at college.

"I realized, 'I want to do this.' It took all my doubts away," she said. Buena applied to CSU, was accepted into the university and its Honors Program, and was awarded the full-ride scholarship from the Colorado Garden Foundation. Now, she's taking a 14-credit class load and continues her green roof research with Bousselot. She has new friends through her residence hall and El Centro, a cultural resource center for Hispanic students.

Among the most rewarding aspects of college, Buena said, is serving as a role model for her younger brother and sister. "It makes me happy," she said. "I like being the motivation for them to do something they want to do with their lives."

Producing safe, high-quality, affordable meat is a top goal for Stevie Thate as she approaches graduation, with plans for graduate school and a focus on food safety.

Stevie Thate, 21, another first-generation student, is at the opposite end of her college career; instead of starting out, she is anticipating graduation in May, when she will earn a bachelor's degree in animal science. Like Buena, she is gratified to show her younger siblings that college is possible. "They have someone to look up to, someone who's a role model, who works hard and sets goals," Thate said, while chatting in a study lounge in the Animal Sciences Building. "They can see all their opportunities in life."

Thate grew up on a small family farm in Montrose, on Colorado's Western Slope, and showed market cattle and pigs in 4-H and FFA. For her, college was always part of the plan. "My parents always said, 'We want you to experience the things we weren't able to,'" she said.

The plan got real when Thate visited Northeastern Junior College in Sterling with her FFA chapter. While visiting, she won a raffle that helped cover costs at the school; she soon enrolled. Two years later, she earned an associate degree in agricultural education, then entered CSU to attain a bachelor's degree.

Thate found her passion when she registered for three meat science classes that taught her all aspects of the meat industry: methods of harvest, fabrication, and processing; chemistry and microbiology; biosecurity measures; consumer preferences; and food safety and related regulations. She had worked at a small butcher shop and processing plant in Montrose during high school. Now, with her meats classes, Thate learned the reasons behind all she had done and observed. The industry instruction also resonated with a lesson she had learned from her grandfather.

"Growing up, my grandpa always said, 'We're not in the cattle business for the money. We're here to raise the best quality meat,'" Thate said. Now, she knows much more about how to achieve that goal. "We have the research to produce the safest, most affordable, and some of the highest quality meat for consumers," she said. "That's what consumers want, and we can help them to be healthy and feed their families."

Her path has had its difficulties. Thate learned to dig deep after initially struggling with some of her course work, learned how to cope with separation from her family, and learned how to navigate unknowns on a large campus, among other lessons.

She found her place in CSU's Meat Laboratory, where she helps make products for teaching and for sale to the public. Thate and other students participate in Beef Sticks for Backpacks, a program that makes and donates high-protein snacks for Colorado schoolchildren facing food insecurity. She also works at the Where Food Comes From Market, a student-run storefront that sells Ram Country Meats products to the public, and for its associated catering program.

Her academic experience and success led to a quality assurance internship last summer with Greater Omaha Packing in Nebraska. If she were not busy enough, Thate also is a member of Collegiate Farm Bureau and competes on the CSU Meats Quiz Bowl team, a kind of Jeopardy! focused entirely on meat science.

Thate earned multiple scholarships to attend CSU, including awards from the Meat Foundation and National Western Scholarship Trust. She also works full time with the Meat Laboratory to cover college costs and living expenses.

As she looks toward graduation and plans for graduate school, Thate said she is most proud of the determination she has learned and applied: "I feel like nothing has stopped me from graduating from college."

First Degree videos will be released once per month, October through May. Find all the videos as they become available. Learn about the university-funded First Generation Scholarship Award. Give to donor-funded scholarships for first-generation students.