Supporting First-Gen Students is Focus of New Task Force
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 5, 2021) — When Sara Sandra Richburg left her home and family in the South Bronx to come to UAlbany, she remembers being terrified.
The fifth of six children, she had spent most of her life home-schooled and was the first in her family to go away to college. Richburg was sure she wouldn’t fit in, that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the work, that she would be too homesick to function.
Fast forward about a quarter century: Richburg, who thrived at UAlbany under the mentorship of Carson Carr, then the director of the Educational Opportunities Program, graduated in 1998 with a degree in Africana Studies and a minor in Business Administration. Today she works in real estate and runs her own consulting firm. She was back at the University last month to meet with a new group of freshmen who, like Richburg, are the firsts in their families to attend college.
Richburg was one of about two dozen University faculty, staff and alumni – all first-generation college grads – at a networking session that was part of a new, non-credit course at UAlbany. UUNI 99 is an 8-week series of workshops specifically designed for first-gen students, to help them navigate a new experience, and find the financial, social and academic resources to help them succeed. It’s also about finding colleagues and mentors who understand what they are going through.
Most of the 30 students in the workshop were placed there by their academic advisors. “I didn’t decide to take this course, but I am actually happy that I’m here,” said Carlos Galata of the Bronx.
Natalie Blounin of Centereach, Long Island, said the same: “I didn’t know I was taking this class. It has been very useful. It has given me many helpful resources.”
The workshops are taught by different people each week, covering topics such as financial aid and campus jobs, getting involved in campus activities and groups, academic integrity, choosing majors and preparing for exams. There is no homework and no grades, but the students were each given journals they use to keep track of their progress, their challenges and the information they want to hold onto from each session. They’ve taken tours of the academic buildings on campus, been paired with colleagues in similar majors, and had the chance to share their favorite spots on campus and those that give them the most anxiety.
At the networking session, titled First Gen Journeys, students sat at 10 tables in the Campus Center Ballroom, each with some first-gen faculty, staff or alum, who rotated among the tables, sharing stories and contact info.
Richburg said it’s important to her to be there for first-year female students of color. “Students thrive when they have successful role models that look like them,” she said. “I want to be that person to ensure the success of my Great Dane little sisters.”
Students responded. “It was nice meeting people who were like me at some point,” one student said. “They told me the experiences and struggles they went through but managed — and that was kind of motivating to me.”
“I met two successful Black women who gave me their numbers,” said another.
Monica Britton-West, a 1991 graduate who majored in English and minored in Communication, said it was important to her to help the next generation of first-time college students find their feet. “The same issues remain that I overcame,” she said. “By reaching back, essentially lifting as I climb, I’m helping students not repeat the same mistakes I made, introducing them to opportunities, giving them access to have better college and professional experiences.”
For Britton-West, it’s a lifelong passion. She is president and CEO of Black Girls on Campus, an organization that works with high school and college students who are, or will be, first-generation college students. She and Richburg both serve on UAlbany’s Alumni Association Board of Directors as well as the First Gen Scholars Task Force, the entity behind the new first-gen workshop series.
The University has long worked to support and advance first-gen students. Some are part of the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP), which works primarily with students from educationally and economically underserved areas. EOP students get a longer orientation period and receive mentoring throughout their college experience.
But not all first-gen students are in EOP. The First Gen Scholars Task Force, led by Linda Krzykowski, associate vice provost and executive director for the First Year Experience, and Dean of Students Clarence McNeill, was formed two years ago to assist all first-gen students. And the UUNI 99 course was designed to help those first-gen students who don’t have the support system offered by EOP.
The task force also encouraged first-gen University faculty and staff to share their status, to become role models for new first-gen students. Through a campus-wide poster campaign, these staff and faculty are sharing their stories. School of Public Health Dean David Holtgrave is featured on one such poster: “As a first gen college student, I found it was important to try new areas of study until it became clear what I was really passionate about,” he says.
That’s the kind of message that resonates with the students taking the first-gen workshops. “I learned that it’s OK to change your major until you find something you truly like,” said Aurora Flavius of Elmont, who right now thinks she’ll major in Human Biology.
For Flavius and other students in UUNI 99, having the support of peers and University staff and faculty is helpful. “I feel a sense of community with all the other first-gen students,” said Milan Jevremov of Manhattan. “It was really nice hearing about other people’s journeys and how similar they are to mine.”