{"id":7063,"date":"2019-10-01T12:43:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T16:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=7063"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:18:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:18:36","slug":"first-in-their-pack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2019\/first-in-their-pack\/","title":{"rendered":"First in Their Pack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Jackie Gonzalez \u201918 was a high flyer at her high school in Lincolnton, N.C., a former textile town three hours west of Raleigh. Outspoken and precocious, she and her large group of friends took turns holding the highest positions in student government, and her competitive nature pushed her to excel in her classes: \u201cIf my friends were doing something, I was like, \u2018I\u2019ll do better,\u2019 \u201d she says. Her parents, who had come to North Carolina from Costa Rica in the 1990s, hadn\u2019t gone to college. But they instilled in Gonzalez that a college degree was the key to her future. Her counselors pushed her to take every Advanced Placement class her school offered\u2009\u2014\u2009sometimes against her protests\u2009\u2014and to apply to Harvard and Yale as well as North Carolina universities. With a love of politics that began while watching news shows in Spanish with her parents, she figured NC State would be a good place to study political science, though she never visited campus until the first day of orientation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NC State
Jackie Gonzalez \u201918 shows off her “First in the Pack” pin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When she got to NC State in 2014, she hit a wall. A 44 on her first test in political science, her planned major, made her consider dropping out. A dipping GPA disqualified her from the University Scholars honors program. Tears and anger led to a frustrating conclusion: \u201cI realized it wasn\u2019t just this course or that professor,\u201d Gonzalez says. \u201cI just didn\u2019t know how to college at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalez learned \u201chow to college\u201d and got back on track. She graduated in 2018 as student body president, and now works as development director for a nonprofit and plans to go to graduate school. But research shows that students whose parents don\u2019t have college degrees often fail to complete their own degrees, a gap that colleges and universities are increasingly trying to fill with programs aimed at supporting first-generation students. In recent years, NC State administrators have sought to keep the university\u2019s roughly 4,000 first-generation students on track to graduate in a variety of ways, from fostering a sense of community to connecting students to various services and mentors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Retired
Retired Vice Chancellor Tom Stafford shows a historical campus photo to a group of First in the Pack students as they tour the NC State Memorial Belltower. Photograph by Chris Seward \u201980<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"First-generation
First-generation college students and their families attend a reception at NC State Talley Student Center. Photograph by Chris Seward \u201980<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Almost a quarter of college-bound high school sophomores in 2002 were the first in their families to attend college, according to a national study by the U.S. Department of Education. A decade later, only 20 percent of these so-called \u201cfirst-gen\u201d college students had earned degrees, compared to 42 percent of those whose parents had college degrees. The reasons are as varied as the students, though there are common themes. They tend to come into college less prepared than their peers, from high schools that offered fewer Advanced Placement and upper-level math courses. They often come from lower-income homes and struggle financially; money is the number one reason cited by first-gen students who don\u2019t earn a degree, including both the cost of tuition and the need to support themselves. Finally, those students often experience confusion over academic requirements and expectations and have a reluctance to ask for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stakes for success are high, as a college degree continues to be key to upward mobility. The median annual earnings of a high school graduate in 2017 was $35,600, while it was $58,650 for a college graduate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a difference of more than $20,000 a year. \u201cWe all know that higher education is a transformative experience. It changes your trajectory,\u201d Chancellor Randy Woodson says. \u201cThe change in trajectory is most dramatic for a student that comes from a family with no higher education experience.\u2009… It affects everything. It affects your longevity. You live longer. You\u2019re healthier, which is tied to your ability to support yourself. You\u2019re less likely to be in prison. I mean, all sorts of social issues are changed by going from a family that\u2019s never had a college experience to one that does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst in the Pack\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

NC State has welcomed first-generation college students throughout its history\u2009\u2014\u2009from the children of farmers, merchants and mechanics who flocked to Raleigh in its early days to the returning soldiers who, thanks to the G.I. Bill, were part of a nationwide explosion in college degrees after World War II. But the term has become an educational buzzword in recent years, as colleges and universities have begun to consider first-generation status in admissions and programs. In each of the past five years, NC State\u2019s freshman class has included anywhere from just over 600 to nearly 800 first-generation students. In the fall of 2018, they made up about 15 percent of 4,800 incoming freshmen. An even larger percentage of transfer students are first generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"First-generation
First-generation student Alston Willard stands on the Brickyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Educating first-generation college students has always been part of the mission of public, land-grant institutions like NC State, says Jon Westover, director of admissions and himself a first-generation college graduate. \u201cThey\u2019re certainly a group of students that we want to make sure have opportunities to come to NC State,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtney Simpson \u201905, \u201908 MED was the first in her family to earn a college degree and now runs NC State\u2019s programs for first-generation students. She urges students to embrace their distinctive role, even if it comes with challenges. \u201cIt\u2019s not a negative connotation but one of pride,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cIf you can teach students to be prideful in who they are and their story, they\u2019re more likely to succeed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can teach students to be prideful in who they are and their story, they\u2019re more likely to succeed.\u201d
\u2014 Courtney Simpson \u201905, \u201908 MED<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Simpson never heard the term \u201cfirst-gen\u201d when she was an undergraduate at NC State, but she recognized she needed help in ways that differed from many of her classmates. Like Gonzalez, she was surprised by the difficulty of her classes, but was embarrassed to seek help from a tutor or counselor. She was also going home to Johnston County, N.C., every weekend to work at Dairy Queen\u2009\u2014\u2009taking time away from her studies. During her first week, she was so intimidated by one of her large communications classes, she called her mom to pick her up and bring her home. The next day, her mom insisted on bringing her back. \u201cWhich was one of the best things that she probably could have ever done for me,\u201d Simpson says, \u201cbecause what that told me was, \u2018Yes, you always have a place where you can call home, but you have to do this. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it, you absolutely have to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Courtney Simpson \u201905, \u201908 MED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Simpson says she was lucky to find mentors who eased her homesickness, connected her with tutors and maybe most importantly, encouraged her to get a job on campus. Now, it\u2019s part of her job to help level the playing field for current students. She heads a series of programs for first-generation and low-income NC State students launched in 2016 through the federally funded TRIO program. Students are connected with tutors and mentors and are invited to a series of events to help them succeed in class and in the workforce. In January, for instance, the daylong Nav1gate Summit gave students a chance to connect with other first-generation students and staff, and to explore their strengths to create a college success plan. TRIO staff also encourages students to look beyond class and work to experiences such as undergraduate research and studying abroad, which are valued by employers but often eschewed by first-generation students who are so laser-focused on earning a degree that they often fail to explore those opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NC State
NC State student Jean Ferman shows off his hand after painting the Free Expression Tunnel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another segment of TRIO programming seeks to immerse students in the Wolfpack culture. First-generation freshmen are welcomed with a \u201cFirst in the Pack\u201d event in the fall, and receive lapel pins that spent a night in the Bell Tower\u2009\u2014\u2009an initial bookend to another tradition (seniors\u2019 class rings also spend a night in the tower). During another event, first-generation students are invited to add their names and handprints to the Free Expression Tunnel. Such rituals might seem small, but studies show students who feel connected are more likely to finish their degrees. \u201cWhat they need for the long term is a sense of community and belonging,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cThat\u2019s what gets our students to stay here on campus, to persist and complete their degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 20 percent of first-generation college students earned degrees within 10 years, compared to 42 percent of those whose parents had college degrees, according to a national study by the U.S. Department of Education of college-bound high school sophomores.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Finding Their Way<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For Alston Willard, a senior from Zebulon, N.C., who majors in ecological engineering, finding his way at NC State was partly about overcoming culture shock. NC State was the only school to which he applied, though he never visited the campus. Once in Raleigh, he met people who had kept spreadsheets of their potential colleges and hired writing coaches for their application essays. He met people who were wealthy in ways he had never seen, and who seemed to feel exceedingly comfortable with college life. \u201cA lot of the kids seemed like they were bred for college,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt like I was just lucky to be going to college at all.\u201d Coming in without taking calculus, he also felt behind his peers in class. He says his sophomore year was his \u201ccrucible\u201d; he was scraping by in physics, and taking on a lot of debt because he couldn\u2019t find time to work. He lost 10 pounds, but he learned to study hard, and early, for tests, and spent hours with tutors and online tutorials. Now he has friends who were blindsided by the higher-level classes in their majors, while the study skills he\u2019s honed are paying off. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard for me since I got here,\u201d he says. There were other hiccups. A scheduling snafu tacked on an extra year to his degree; he\u2019ll graduate in 2020 as a fifth-year senior. But he also took a risk and studied abroad, taking hydrology and waste management classes in Belgium\u2009\u2014\u2009a life-changing experience he had never imagined having.<\/p>\n\n\n\n