Tell Your Story

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) first-generation students engaged in an evening of developing their own first-gen digital stories. Students shared space, shared their time, their voices, and their experiences–what BEAUTIFUL and POWERFUL stories and words we heard that evening. A huge THANK YOU to Rob Kershaw and Jane Van Galen for facilitating and providing us their expertise in voice, social justice, and storytelling.

Robert Kershaw is a photographer, designer, writer, and film editor who discovered digital storytelling while working on story projects with remote communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Robert is a part of the StoryCenter, a place that creates spaces for listening to and sharing stories, to help build a just and healthy world. As a digital storytelling facilitator, Rob has assisted hundreds of individuals telling their own stories.

Jane Van Galen is Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Washington Bothell and was a first-generation college student. She’s the creator and facilitator of the First in our Families project in which first-generation college students across the country have created and shared digital stories of being first. She has authored multiple articles and co-edited four books on social class, mobility, and education. Her recent work has focused on ways in which new forms of participatory digital media support more voices in deliberations about campus, civic, and cultural life.

Our SLCC students are just itching to carry on their creative work, and they can with the help, support, and guidance of both Rob and Jane for the continuation of November and before we reconvene again as a group in early-December. In the meantime, SLCC students receive one-on-one support from Jane and Rob.

As a First-Gen Committee, we decided to continue first-gen efforts and celebration visibility beyond November and celebrate and recognize our first-gen students year-round. With the first-gen celebration off to a great start, we wanted to keep the momentum and give everyone the opportunity to share their first-gen pride. We encouraged SLCC students to snap a picture with any of their first-gen swag from this year or previous years and share on Microsoft Teams or on Instagram. Students can also continue to show pride in other ways. For example, students can record a quick message answering the question: What does being first-gen mean to you? If you post on Instagram, make sure to tag @slcc_trio and use the hashtags #FirstGenCelebration, #CelebrateFirstGen, #AdvocateFirstGen, and #TRIOWorks. You will then be entered into a random drawing to win a prize.

In the spirit of being GRATEFUL, I am so grateful for the amazingly gifted SLCC, TRIO, and first-gen students like yourselves that I have the honor and privilege of working for and amongst every single day. I always say that SLCC students are the hardest working students I know.

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For more information on Salt Lake Community College’s approach, please visit their website here.