Three years ago, Bradley University started recording data on how many of their students were first generation college students and found that 20 to 30 percent of the incoming classes identified as first generation.
This led to the creation of an event called “First Generation Friday.”
Dorian Pena, a first generation junior economics major, has noticed the lack of resources for first generation college students and believes the event to be a great resource for students, especially incoming freshmen at Bradley.
“Just being a first generation college student is a whole other experience that really requires the assistance and extra attention.” Pena said. “And I think that by having events like this, it really makes you feel like you have a community, or… people that are also going through the same thing, and it just makes it a lot easier.”
First Generation Friday is an event sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, or ODI.
A “first generation student” is defined as a student whose parents did not obtain a four-year degree, said Johanna Vega-Rocha, the assistant director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Vega-Rocha is a first generation college student and Bradley alumna.
There is some confusion as to whether or not someone is first generation if they have an older sibling in college.
“There’s a misconception where students are like ‘oh, well my older sibling went to college, I’m not first generation.’ Like, no. You are also first generation because you’re considered in the same generation,” Vega-Rocha said.
She emphasizes the importance of making sure historically underrepresented students feel supported and more comfortable, saying the ODI felt the event was necessary to help connect students with faculty, staff and other first generation students with this event.
Jeff Garcia, a freshman civil engineering major, also first generation, says he felt the support the moment he met Norris Chase and Vega-Rocha. Chase is the executive director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
“They genuinely do care about every one of you, and they do want to build a sense of community that you can come back to when you’re feeling like you don’t know where you’re going, or that you need that extra little helping hand… These mixers [are] where really that all gets established,” Garcia said.
“Our purpose for this event is to connect students with professionals that are also first generation and for them to see [for] themselves, ‘okay this could potentially be me one day, graduating from Bradley,’” Vega-Rocha said.
