Unleashing Hope: A First-generation Retreat

This year, Loyola University Maryland welcomed a record number of first-generation students to our campus. In turn, we have been working hard to develop meaningful events in which our first-generation students are invited to participate and for whom many of our first-gen students are selected to lead. In addition to what have become annual traditions at Loyola, such as the National First-gen College Day Celebration on the President’s lawn, Spring “Bling,” First-gen Listening Sessions, Kickstarting Your Financial Future, Navigating the FAFSA, Getting the Scoop on Fellowships and Scholarships, Career Networking, and De-stressing for Exams stations, Loyola’s Offices of Campus Ministry, The Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Career Center, and The First-Gen Hounds Alliance Club collaborated to create Loyola’s inaugural First-gen Retreat.

“Hope Unleashed: A First-Generation Retreat” took place on the weekend of April 15-16, 2023 at Loyola’s very own retreat house in the mountains of western Maryland. Each student was gifted with a booklet that used written and visual imagery from numerous places and sources that they used as a guide for the weekend. The booklets also had corresponding spaces for writing reflections. Images included a feather (an uplifting symbol of peace, strength, courage beauty, happiness, lightness, and protection), weight (a symbol of heaviness, adversity, burden, difficulty, and darkness), and compass (a symbol of guidance, navigation, truth, balance, morality, and inspiration).

From sunrise to sunset, a group of ten incredible first-gen students came together to forge new friendships, share stories, create art, recite poetry, reflect, honor, and affirm one another. Each night ended with the students sitting under a starlit sky and around a campfire making s’mores, laughing, and bringing hope to one another. Students who had remained quiet for most of the year found their voices, students who expressed the desire to elevate first-gen initiatives became leaders, and students who simply basked in the peacefulness away from campus became partners in hope.

As a University that is committed to the values within the Jesuit tradition, which include: Academic Excellence, Focus on the Whole Person, Integrity and Honesty, Diversity, Community, Justice, Service, Leadership, Discernment, and Constant Challenge to Improve, Loyola is poised to fortify our first-gen students’ gifts, strengths, and talents, and we are thrilled to have organized an opportunity for our students to thrive.

The students completed a survey following the retreat, and the results indicated 100 percent satisfaction with the Hope Unleashed Retreat. Students shared the following reflections:

I can say that it was truly a life-changing experience.

The experience felt empowering, and I wish the time I had there was longer.

Something that stood out to me is how we were able to think more deeply about how we can support ourselves and other first-generation students from diverse backgrounds when navigating through the college experience.

I like how we are all different and we are not being judged for expressing our differences (that is, things we like and don't like, our fears, our feelings, etc.).

The themes presented in the book greatly helped guide my personal reflection and looking toward the future.

Loyola University Maryland is hopeful, too, that we will continue to offer opportunities to our first-generation students that will allow them to lead, learn, and serve in a diverse and changing world.

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For more information on Loyola University Maryland's approach, please visit their website here.