November 22, 2024

Being a college student certainly is one of the most essential parts of being a person; it is not an easy decision to make whether you want to attend college. For most young people, at least one of their parents attended college previously, so they have always heard stories of the college experience through their parents or any other family. Do not get me wrong; I find that such a fantastic experience because, thanks to the stories taught by previous generations of your family going to college, your expectations grow as your excitement for attending college do, too. But of course, not everybody experiments with this; now imagine yourself attending college without this preview, without your parents telling you about their experience, and not knowing who to help you in this process: that is what first-generation students do.

To provide you with some context, first-generation students are the first in their families to attend college, so from my own experience, I can tell you that it is a rollercoaster of a journey. When you are in high school, your teachers start talking about college, and you start to consider which college you are attending. Typically, you have some clue, but it was a big no for me. I knew I wanted to participate in college but did not know which one or how to do it. So, I started digging on the internet.

I knew I was going to study in the United States (I forgot to tell you that detail; I am also an international student), and thankfully, I had the opportunity to choose my path on how I was going to accomplish my goal, which was to graduate from college and obtain my bachelor degree. But I knew so much less back then.

I had some knowledge of how college in the States works, but there was much more outside of what Google told me about it. First, I went to my parents, but since neither of them attended college in the States, they had no clue how to help me, so I decided to take the matter into my own hands. And I know many international students will identify with my situation. First, I wanted to attend a four-year college- but when I realized how expensive that was going to be, and since I did not have the history to apply for scholarships because I did not graduate high school in the United States, my dreams were crushed at that moment.

I thought I should not go to college, so I decided to work until I could retire and conform to the bare minimum. However, something inside me clicked. Believe it or not, I saw a TikTok of a girl talking about her experience in college and how incredible it has been so far, so I thought, well, I want to experience that. I also want to make my family proud; I want to be the first person to attend college and graduate, so my mind said, change of plans, let’s look for community colleges.

That is how I landed at Forsyth Tech: searching and searching. I saw all the advantages and programs this college had to offer and applied to, and here we are now. But that did not end there. Once I stepped foot in the main lobby at Strickland, I was lost; I did not know where to go or how to ask for help to get myself on track. Thankfully, in our college, they are so open to help, and they pointed me to the Student Success Center, where I met my advisor, and then the rest is history.

My first day of class at Forsyth Tech

For about one semester, I was doing ok. I attended classes, and everything was ok until it hit me that my plan would fail; what would I do after completing college? That was the only question in my head until one day, and I remember this vividly: in my transfer success class, Ms. Keyonna from TRIO Support Services came to class to discuss what the TRIO office offers. I find everything they have to provide fascinating, mainly because I am a first-generation student, so I decided to learn more about these services and apply to be part of them. I’m telling you, since I’ve become a TRIO student,

my college experience has become more accessible to handle. I’m not saying you must join them, but my point is that there are so many opportunities, you just may not realize it.

You will wonder why I am telling you my stories. It’s because I want you to realize you are a first-generation student; you were taking the first step in your family to embrace this journey that is called college and to assure you that you have so many opportunities and tools that will help you with it. So, take advantage of it, investigate, immerse yourself in it and know that at the end, everything will be worth it. Once you walk that stage at commencement, you will realize that everything was worth it at the end.