Interview Part I: I'm the first one to go to college...

I was fortunate enough to be able to find a part of my voice at my assistantship site.  In the upcoming weeks I will be able to conduct a interview with a Latino female and through these two interactions, be able to combined the information into a full analysis.  In the short interview, I was able to ask the following questions:

What were your fears?

What surprised you once you got to campus?

What piece of information did you wish you knew now that would have been beneficial in the past?

What services reached out to you?

Analysis:

Joe, as he will be referred to, is currently a freshmen living in one of the halls I oversee.  He noted that since he had friends go off to college, he relied on them to relay him information about classes and workloads.  He feared coming in that he would not be able to handle the classes and it would be hard to adjust quickly.  His parents did not have any background and move-in was a very hectic and stressful event.  He felt comforted by the fact that he had a friend who he met during the orientation process who was in his same building.  What suprised him were how fast friendships and acquaintances were made.  There seemed to be an overwhelming feeling for most students and they seemed to have "the same experiences and reactions" even though they had parents and siblings who went to college.  He admits it is still struggles day-to-day but he knows that his RA, friends, and professors are there if needed.  He wishes that he would have known more about the learning center on campus and the services available for students. He says even though they were covered briefly in orientation, he did not remember information once he arrived and it would have been helpful when he started to struggle initially.

The services that are on campus are common ones such as a learning center, multicultural center, career center etc. He said he thought it may have been more personal once he got on campus but has not had any face-to-face contact with people other than the learning center.   Being proactive is a "large part of adjusting to an adult life", he said.  Though he wished that since it was a smaller university, that staff would take more initiative to meet students beyond hello and a pleasant conversation.

From what I gathered, being a first-generation student can have major struggles. As stated before, there is no checkbox in the application for a first generation student.  If these students can be catered to, in the process, it will only help develop a community of staff who is caring and thoughtful to students who are new to college.  Like anything in life, he and other non-first generation students shared the same experiences and fears.  Working in residence life, using items such as Baxter Magolda's questioning strategies have been important in providing a foundation to begin conversation for both hall director and resident advisor.  Once a student is flagged with a serious issue, for any reason, they are provided with resources and pushed in the right direction.  If faculty and other staff could be shown these strategies it might provide them with a sense of more purpose in one-on-one meetings and that they could have an impact on students outside of academia.