Cardinal First Director, Julie Carballo, shares how North Central College advances and celebrates first-generation students

North Central College offers ongoing programming and services for our first-generation student population from their first-day on campus through graduation.  Our annual kickoff event is the Cardinal First Welcome Week Family Breakfast which is held on the morning of the first-day of Welcome Week.  This is move-in day for resident students and we invite their families (parents, grandparents, siblings) to join us that morning.  During the first-year, first-generation students attend Cardinal First Fridays – interactive lunch workshops (offered at 3 consecutive times) on the first Friday of each month.  Sophomores attend six Cardinal First Sophomores Suppers throughout the year; each supper table has 10 students and one first-generation faculty or staff table host.  Juniors and seniors also are invited and encouraged to attend six workshops (each offered at 3 consecutive times) throughout the year through Cardinal First Penultimate and Cardinal First Homestretch.  Our new transfer students participate in a series of four Cardinal First transition lunch workshops during their first-term on campus and then integrate into the above-mentioned programs after that.  Student leadership and peer-to-peer mentoring are provided by a team of 75 volunteer first-generation sophomores, juniors and seniors called Cardinal First Ambassadors who participate in monthly leadership development sessions.

All workshops are designed to closely align with North Central College’s strategic plan imperative to student success - “provide a dynamic and integrated educational experience that fosters student learning and success at North Central College and beyond.”  This is accomplished by intentionally designing workshops that build community among our first-generation students, faculty and staff while also facilitating the connection to resources, opportunities, experiences, a supportive network and success strategies to help them thrive as a college student and young professional.  Strategic and ongoing collaboration with first-generation faculty and staff as well as many departments across campus is an integral part of the program.

On the afternoon prior to graduation, North Central hosted the third annual Cardinal First Graduation Recognition & Pinning Ceremony for our 2018 first-generation graduates and their families. More than 140 first-generation graduates were recognized and 400 family members attended. Prior to the event, each first-generation graduate selected a faculty or staff member who's been an important part of their college experience to present the graduate with a Cardinal First pin at the ceremony; the pin is then worn on their graduation gown the next day. The format of this one-hour event involves a welcome by the college President, a moment of appreciation/recognition for the family members and their very important role in this shared accomplishments, brief remarks by a beloved first-generation faculty member and then individual recognition of the first-generation graduates. Each graduate introduces him/herself at the podium on stage and also shares hometown and degree earned. For example, I am Kim Wilson from Springfield, IL and I have earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. The graduate then walks to the center of the stage where the selected faculty/staff member presents the pin. The graduates are recognized in reverse alphabetical order since the next day’s graduation ceremony will be in alphabetical order.

The one-hour event kicks off a series of events the afternoon prior to graduation. Immediately following the 3PM pinning ceremony is the President’s Welcome Reception for all graduates and their families 4-6pm, baccalaureate 6:15-7:30PM and graduation rehearsal after that.

At this time, our only formal initiatives to involve first-generation alumni are the Teach First Alumni Mentor Network and the biannual Teach First Alumni Academy for our current first-generation education majors and our alumni who are teachers.

We hope to expand this type of alumni engagement in other disciplines within the next two years. Many of our alumni have expressed interest in meaningful engagement and mentoring opportunities with our current students and we are working to pilot something in the near future.

Since we began collecting the status of first-generation students on our application for admission in 2012, 38-40% of our students have identified as first-generation students.  Currently, our incoming first-year class is 44% first-generation and our incoming transfer student population is 42.9% first-generation.  Clearly, our first-generation population is growing.

Our first-generation programming is also expanding to accommodate the growing number of Cardinal First participants.  During our first-year of Cardinal First in 2014-15, 54 students participated with 17 student leaders.  In 2017-18, 400+ students participated with 35 student leaders.  Numbers dramatically increased when we added the Cardinal First $500 Scholarship incentive; the scholarship is awarded after one full year of participation in the program.  For 2018-19, more than 100 students applied to be Cardinal First Ambassadors – volunteer student leaders/mentors – and 75 were selected after the interview process.  Leadership Development is provided on a monthly basis for each Ambassador’s personal and professional development and for the benefit of the program. 

Teach First was our initial first-generation program designed specifically for first-generation education majors; it launched in 2008 and now has 70 participants. In 2018-19, we added two additional first-generation department-specific initiatives – Health First (for first-generation students pursuing health-related careers) and First Gen Chem (for first-generation chemistry and biochemistry majors).  In 2018-19, we are preparing to launch four additional programs – Marketing First, Management First, Code First (computer science) and Journalism First. Each department-specific program is spearheaded by a faculty mentor from that department.

Last year, we piloted a Faculty Mentoring initiative through which 75 of our first-year, first-generation students were paired with a faculty mentor.  In 2018-19, the goal is for every first-year student to have a first-generation faculty mentor.  The mentor-mentee pairs meet three times/year.

The Director of First Generation Programs position and the Office of First Generation Programs was created in Fall 2014.  As Director, I am the only full-time staff member.  After two years, a Graduate Assistant was added in Fall 2016.  Effective 2018-19, two Graduate Assistants will be working out of that office with one singularly focused on first-year, first-generation initiatives.  We anticipate more than 500 Cardinal First participants in 2018-19. 

THE CENTER FOR FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT SUCCESS WOULD LIKE TO THANK JULIE CARBALLO, DIRECTOR OF FIRST GENERATION PROGRAMS AT NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE, FOR HER TIME AND FOR CONTINUING TO BE A STRONG ADVOCATE FOR FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT SUCCESS!