Marian University hosts First-Generation College Celebration Week to celebrate its incredible students!

Marian University built upon its 2019 First-Generation College Celebration by extending this day remembering the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965 into a full week of events and workshops to celebrate its incredible first-generation students. Despite the necessity of all events being held virtually due to our pandemic, we nevertheless had an uplifting week of events that explored what first-generation identity means to our students, faculty, and staff. We are proud that our efforts engaged over 50 students, 17 faculty/staff, and involved four TRIO alumni in powerful ways!

Marian TRIO’s Student Support Services (SSS) Program kicked off the week with chalking cross campus and a motivational speaker on Monday evening. On Tuesday, November 3rd, no events were held so as to support Get-out-the-Vote election efforts, where two TRIO student leaders helped drive shuttles to the polls! On Wednesday, a panel of TRIO-SSS alumni representing biology, criminal justice/homeland security, and psychology graduates was hosted online, attracting current students and faculty with fond memories of their former students. They shared inspiring personal details and proved to be authentic role models which our students can envision their future selves in. On Thursday evening, our students tuned-in for the National First-Generation College Celebration, a DJ’d event hosted by the Council for Opportunity in Education and the Center for First-generation Student Success, where they could meet their first-generation peers across the country, enjoyed trivia, and had a chance to win prizes. 

Later that same evening, we hosted a Lift Your Voice workshop featuring Marian-TRIO Alumni Reginald Parson, who shared a bit of his own personal story, formative experiences through his undergraduate, master’s degree, and law school experience and what inspires him now to do difficult, but fulfilling, work as legislative aide in the Maine House of Representatives. Our students were guided through personal reflection on their past, clarifying their values, and connecting goals with their passions and educational motivations. At the end of this workshop, students were encouraged to pull it all together and practice Lifting their Voices, speaking up for what they believe in and are committed to accomplishing as first-generation college students! Finally, on Friday, faculty and staff were encouraged to attend the National First-Generation College Celebration webinar hosted by the Center for First-generation Student Success and the Council for Opportunity in Education for college-access professionals. The week’s efforts were supported by a social-media campaign that encouraged students to share these events and post selfies wearing 1stGen Proud buttons, T-shirts, and use our custom Snapchat filter.

Now that this week of events honoring our first-generation students has passed, our mission is to keep the positive energy around first-generation support and institutional pride going strong into our future. While this is not easy in these tumultuous times, we can still work to empower our students and celebrate their achievements–even when it is the simple choice of not giving up and forging ahead with their next tasks. Though this semester continues to present us with many challenges, we remain vital torch-bearers encouraging them to bravely push on–and that is a very significant and meaningful charge.