Drexel Celebrates Those Who Go First

This was the second year that Drexel University celebrated National First-Gen Day. Even with COVID-19 and remote learning, we were still able to put together a series of programs that brought out up to 11 individuals each. 

Our kick-off event was a mixer which included current students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Since it was a smaller group, about 15, we just talked about our experiences, shared lessons learned, and things we wish we knew. The remaining three events were panels co-hosted with different offices on campus. The first was a panel of current medical school students sharing their experience of applying and getting into medical school. We have a lot of first-gen students interested in medical school, and we thought it would be a great way to start building a connection for them. This is an event that may not have happened in person because our medical school is located on a different campus and takes two buses for students to travel to. The med school panelists were excited to share their experience and expressed interest in continuing to meet with students, so we are looking at hosting another workshop with them in the winter term. 

Our next panel was co-hosted with our undergraduate research office where undergraduate students shared their varied research endeavors. They encouraged students to connect with faculty and explore research even if their field of study does not seem like a research obvious field. The final event was co-hosted with our veteran’s student services. Many of our student veterans are also first-gen so it made sense to co-host an event, especially as our final event and to kick-off the series of events for Veteran’s Day.

We also mailed over 200 1st Gen and Proud iron-on patches to current students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We encouraged participants to use the hashtag #firstgendragons to share on social media.

While it was not the crowd we hoped for, it was still a valuable experience for those who attended. Everyone spoke about what they learned from the panelists and their appreciation for putting together the events. We were able to stream them to YouTube, so anyone can check them out here.