What does being a first-gen student mean to Dulce?
First Gen means that there were opportunities for me that weren't available to my parents because, in their home country, access to higher education wasn't available to everybody. Pursuing a degree was also an opportunity to rediscover me as a future professional - to establish myself as someone who is scholarly. In high school, I was viewed as "at-risk" of not making it but in the higher ed setting, I felt like I was more capable because of how the spirit of education was presented.
What are some of the strengths and challenges?
Some of the challenges, for example, can be that there were questions I had where I couldn't go ask my immediate family for explanations (e.g. questions like "what is a FAFSA? or "what does 'registrar' mean?"); you often have to find those answers yourself on top of learning the other skills that every student goes through such as managing your time and/or working part-time. Learning isn't an easy process so sometimes it can be hard when your family wants to help but they do not necessarily have those answers.
There also can be some implicit expectations that can be hard to deal with sometimes. If something isn't told to you, it's hard to know what is expected of you. I got through these instances by setting goals for myself and keeping focused on them if I had any setbacks.
One of the strengths of being First Gen is that you bring cultural competence - how you communicate with your family, how you interact with the community, how you learn and collaborate - all of those things make up one's cultural environment and there is much knowledge to be learned from that as well - this can help guide responses to any new challenges.
Her advice for First Gen students?
Do not be afraid to make connections with peers, faculty and staff, and organizations. Find some way to get career-related experience alongside your academics through co-ops or internships. And lastly, use your resources!