Students and faculty at Samford have started work on establishing a club for first-generation students.
Natalia Meza Cortes, a junior biblical and religious studies major, brought this idea forward to the administration. Her hope is to help connect first-generation students with one another to build a community and support one other.
“[It will be] just a group to get students together who are in this struggle and this time of discovery together and helping them find resources within themselves and connecting them to peers, mentors,” Cortes said.
Cortes has been considering helping launch an organization like this for some time.
“I’m an older sister, and I’m always watching out for how I could help her [younger sister], and how I could help others like me,” Cortes said. “I’m a first-generation student myself, and I’ve navigated through a few first times in life. I’m a first-generation immigrant, I’m a first-generation high school graduate, first to go to college.”
Cortes expressed the struggles she had to face at the beginning of college as a first-generation student.
“I didn’t know about how GPA’s worked, like do you start from scratch or not, I didn’t know the difference between bachelor’s and major […] and then they would say ‘what school are you in?’ I had no idea what that meant,” she said.
In searching for a faculty advisor, Cortes connected with Dr. Taylor Cyr, assistant professor of classics and philosophy, and asked him to serve as the club’s advisor.
“As a Samford professor who is also a first-gen student, I was very excited to offer my support and to help create an additional resource for Samford’s first-gen students,” Cyr said.
Director of Academic Success Center and Accessibility & Accommodations Bridget Rose has also assisted in the founding of this club.
She had already been working on identifying Samford’s first-generation population when Cortes and Cyr approached her.
“We realized that there is a population at Samford that has historically been underrepresented and not even been clearly identified until this current academic year,” Rose said. “Were there always first-generation students at Samford? Of course there were, but we weren’t being intentional to connect with, engage and bring those in.”
For this new organization, Rose has helped promote the club, gather data and create surveys and posters.
“On the personal side, I’m a first-generation college student,” Rose said. “We’ve been trying to make the voices of first-gen college students and their experiences heard, particularly among faculty and staff.”
The group hopes to meet once with the new executive board this semester, and then begin in August with the rest of the campus organizations.
“The group will be a place for first gen students of various classes to get together and learn from each other’s experiences,” Cyr said. “To some extent, all college students figure out what it is like to be in college along the way, but often there are more surprises and unknowns for first-gen students. When I was a student, it was incredibly helpful to have mentors who knew my background well, and a first-gen group at Samford would provide this sort of opportunity for first-gen students.”
Posters and flyers have been put up around campus, with surveys for anyone interested. The survey deadline has been extended to Thursday, Feb. 29 at midnight.
News Editor
