FirstGenFM
For educators looking to connect, learn, and share knowledge about serving first-generation college and college-bound students.
FirstGenFM
The Assets First-Generation Students Bring to College with Jen Schoen
Let's talk about the strengths first-generation students bring to campus based on a research article and an ASHE research presentation.
Join me, Jen Schoen, as we challenge the deficit narrative and uncover the qualities that these students contribute to higher education. As part of First-Generation Student Celebration Week, I draw from two articles and the principles of positive psychology to spotlight the resilience, grit, and ambition that define these students. We’ll reveal how these college students' unique experiences and independence equip them for college success, even as we acknowledge the barriers they face without the parental guidance often available to their continuing-education peers.
Let's continue to reframe our understanding of student success through an asset lens as we discuss how first-generation college students’ strategic thinking and self-reliance are worth recognizing and celebrating. I'll conclude with two actionable insights to enhance support systems and foster an equitable learning environment. By the end of this episode, you’ll see how embracing these strengths can uplift the first-generation students and the student community. Let's celebrate their contributions and explore ways to empower the next generation—together.
Articles:
Minicozzi, L., & Roda, A. (2020). Unveiling the hidden assets that first-generation
students bring to college. Journal for Leadership and Instruction, Spring 2020.
Garrison, N. J., & Gardner, D. S. (2012, November 15). Assets first-generation
college students bring to the higher education setting. Paper presented at the
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Conference, Las
Vegas, NV.
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You can find me at https://www.firstgenfm.com/ and on LinkedIn. My email is jen@firstgenfm.com.
Welcome and welcome back to the First Gen FM podcast, where we high school and college educators strengthen, celebrate and support first-generation college and college-bound students. I'm Jennifer Schoen, your host. Please call me Jen. I'd love it if you could leave a review and a rating for this podcast to help other educators find us. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. Now let's dive into this week's episode. Thanks again for joining me on this episode of First Gen FM.
Speaker 1:I'm doing another solo episode today and, in honor of First Generation Student Celebration Week, I thought I would talk about two articles that discuss the assets that first generation students bring to colleges and universities. I'm going to share two articles I read and with those two articles I want to share about 10 important items that I took from each article and then, I think, at the end, talk about two actionable strategies to better support students on our campuses. So let's go with the first article. So the first article is called Unveiling the Hidden Assets that First Generation Students Bring to College, and it's by Lisa Minicozzi I hope I'm pronouncing that right and Allison Roda, and so the 10 points I want to highlight, and I'll talk about the points and maybe add some of my own insight into those points. Let's start with the first one. Now. In this article they talk about the challenge against the deficit-based assumptions surrounding first-generation students, emphasizing that these students are indeed prepared with unique strengths. Now, for any of us who have been working with first-generation students, we absolutely know this to be true. Some of their strengths include resilience and grit, include goal-setting and certainly ambition and drive, and so that's what I think first-generation students, that's what I see in my students.
Speaker 1:The next point is the critical need for understanding cultural and social expectations that these students have. That these students need in order to navigate college successfully, and I think that's where the support comes in. They, if given the opportunity, they can navigate, but they do need some additional support to understand what the expectations are to get through college successfully. Number three internal assets like independence and resilience that our students possess, garnered through their work and their real life experiences, are going to help them in college, and if we can build up those strengths and remind students that they have these strengths based on their previous experiences, I think we can help them excel. Number four talking with them about how their prior experience prepares them for independence, but we know it doesn't necessarily prepare them for self-advocacy. A lot of the students are independent, kind of go it alone. I got here on my own but need to be reminded that they need to be able to ask for help and reach out to others to advocate for themselves, especially if they're at a place where they don't have a built-in support system, for example in a scholarship program, in an honors program, somewhere in a first-gen center where they know they can ask for help. They especially need to be given skills for self-advocacy.
Speaker 1:The fifth point the article makes that I think is really interesting is it gives a comparative view showing non-first-generation students entering college with more overt knowledge of academic advocacy and that is due to their parental guidance that it is not just self-advocacy in out-of-the-classroom settings but it is also that academic advocacy that their parents are going to help them navigate. Or, as some of us may know, the parents themselves advocate for the students versus letting the students learn how to advocate. But it is not often that for me I'll get a call from a first generation college student's parents seeking to talk to me and advocate for their students in the classroom for a grade for a professor. That's difficult for something like that. So I know from many years of experience working with these students that they don't get that parental guidance in that particular way. So what we do is then provide that guidance to them and help them understand how to have that academic voice with professors, how to talk to professors and other TAs who are in the classroom, helping them learn who are in the classroom helping them learn.
Speaker 1:Number six these students need support to acclimate to the hidden curriculum of college life. I know that I have heard of that, been talking about that for a very long time, but there is a hidden curriculum and the more we can unhide it I know that's not really a word, but the more we can bring it to the fore and talk to students about that, the better off our students will be. Number seven the article talks about insights into creating a more equitable learning environment, specifically by acknowledging the diverse strategies that both continuing generation students and first generation students employ gathering that information, looking to see what works for students, what works best for first gen students, and then helping the first gen students use what they have, their strengths, learn what the strengths are of other students and what they're using, and help use those strengths to propel them forward in the academy Number eight, there are suggestions for expanding the concept of college readiness to include teaching this hidden curriculum. What I would say it would be ideal if that hidden curriculum teaching starts in high school so that students don are first gen to high schools near us, near our colleges, to talk to them about hey, here's what college is about, here's how you can get ready for this hidden curriculum and prepare. I think the students would come in with greater knowledge and maybe less trepidation about entering this new world of college trepidation about entering this new world of college.
Speaker 1:The ninth point talks about the recognition of cultural and familial factors that influence a student's preparedness for college. Oftentimes we just think of the students as just this one being that is only influenced by what is going on at college, and I shouldn't say that Oftentimes we think of that, I think sometimes literature talks about that and I think people in the first-gen sphere do not think that way. But talking about the student holistically, with all that's going on in their lives, I know again from my 25 years of experience working specifically with first-generation college students it's not often that a student leaves college because they cannot handle the academics. Oftentimes they leave because of these cultural and familial factors, that they need to step away from college because they are balancing so many different things, so many different environments and trying to live in both worlds. I heard that talked about as liminality, which I think is a fantastic word, and the person who was presenting about it talked about first-generation students being in a doorway, so standing on the threshold of the doorway, so they are in the room but they're not in the room, and they're outside of the room but not outside the room, so they're in this in-between space and they're trying to put these different outside and inside areas, these different communities that they are part of, together. And I think when we recognize that, as we often do, we can then help our students move forward and work through that liminality into what will suit them best. And finally, number 10, the conclusions of the article that talk about re-looking at the focus on the inherent strengths of first-generation students and moving away from a deficit-based model to an asset-based framework. And of course, all of us who work with first-gen students say yay to that and we would love to do more of that and I think the literature, conversations, presentations are definitely moving more to an asset-based framework, which I am always happy to see.
Speaker 1:Let's dive into this next article. That's a little different, it's a little older, it's from 2012, and it's called Assets First Generation College Students Bring to the Higher Education Setting, and it's actually from a paper that was presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Would be interesting to juxtapose with the previous article. So this article is by Nancy Garrison and Douglas Gardner, and in this article the authors framed their research within the lens of positive psychology, and so there's 10 points again I want to emphasize in this article and again talk a little bit about my feelings, my input and what I'm thinking about. So the first thing that they talked about is a holistic perspective, showcasing first-gen students, again not just by deficits but through the strengths that they harbor and bring to campus. Again, another non-deficit-based approach to first-gen students on campus, which I love, and certainly these two articles have in common. The second point that this article talks about is using a psychological framework to identify personal strengths like proactivity and optimism. So you can hear some of this positive psychology lens coming in with this article.
Speaker 1:The third point is the recognition of unique strengths, such as persistence, strategic thinking and self-reliance, and so probably right now you're starting to think about wait? Didn't we just talk about this in the first article? And the answer is yes. Persistence, resilience, self-reliance, that independence that students have, oftentimes as first-generation students, to get through their high school experience and to get into college is an absolute strength of our students. Number four insight into how lived experience shaped these strengths in overcoming sociocultural marginalization. The students I work with, who are first-gen the majority of them are also coming from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds, and many of them are also students of color, parents of immigrants that's not true are children of immigrants and so have unique family situations that they're coming from, of unique family situations that they're coming from and, as this is election day, I think about unique stressors that are on them as they think about what the future might hold for them, and that insight into those experiences and their identities really makes an impact on how they do college, and so I think recognizing that they have strengths in this overcoming is so important. Their, yeah, yeah, their strengths are numerous and I'm just going to leave it at that. Leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Number five this article does a good exploration of how students deploy these strengths towards degree completion. Now, doesn't mention this, but I know from my reading. You know Angela Duckworth talked a lot about grit and how, as she discusses grit, it is having a goal that students are so focused on that they are willing to go under, around, through any barriers that come to them because they are very focused on their goals, their goals, and I think that for our students, degree completion and that job and career after college is that goal. After they realize that they hit one of their goals, their milestones of getting to college, they set another goal, which is to get that degree and get a job so that they can help and support their family. So exploring how students use these strengths, I think, can then inform how we build up the strengths in other students and then, of course, increase graduation rates, which is something that we always hope to do, because right now they're just terrible for first generation students.
Speaker 1:Number six suggestions for adopting positive psychology in educational context to harness these strengths. Now I think there's some back and forth between how good positive psychology is and whether or not you like it or should use it. I think there are some good things in it that we can certainly harness to help students use the strengths that they bring to campus, and I will just leave it at that. Number seven the need to enhance faculty understanding and student services tailored for first-generation students. I laugh because certainly those of us who work in the space this is not an aha like what we need to enhance faculty understanding and student services. What Specifically for first-gen students? No, we all know that that's what we do, that's what we're working towards, and I think that those of us who do it well, and our institutions do it well, really see the impact that that has on first-gen students. We also know that if we do it for first-gen students, it helps all the students on our campus.
Speaker 1:Number eight a holistic understanding that contrasts with focusing solely on low graduation rates. So this is really interesting and I suppose this could go a little bit with kind of deficit thinking that we're just thinking, oh look this, you know, first gen students have such a low graduation rate. It's terrible, and we really focus on that versus maybe looking at who are the students who do graduate, how and why do they graduate, what resources did they use? Who are the people that they worked with? Did they have mentors? How did they work with their peers? When did they feel that sense of belonging? And looking at those things and then replicating that kind of support and that environment that's helping students be successful and get to graduation and maybe doing that, as I said, replicating that for more first-gen students. So I think that holistic view I liked that that article pointed this out.
Speaker 1:Number nine the emphasis on preparing students by uncovering the hidden curriculum of college life. And again we get to that hidden curriculum. It's everywhere, we're always talking about it and what we can do to help again faculty and student life uncover that hidden curriculum, like office hours, how testing works, how to communicate with them, which I think is so important. And there's even one biology professor I know there might be more, but one. I know that a student told me about who takes her very first class, her entire class, and she shows her students how to study biology, how to best learn concepts for her discipline, so she sets them up for success right from the beginning and levels the playing field for the students in that class. And the student who told me about this, who was first gen, said it was eye-opening that she had not learned how to learn like that and it was a real game changer for her and she felt she did so much better in the class in both her in-class experience and her out-of-class learning in that course because of the professor taking the time to do that. So I just thought that was brilliant and I want to share that with you. All right, we're getting to the end here.
Speaker 1:Number 10, the article talks about the implications for higher education to recognize and build upon the students' strengths to promote success. So we know that, based on the recent study from FirstGenForward, formerly the Center for First-Generation Student Success, that 54% of students in college today are first generation and if we can recognize the strengths they bring, talk about that more and build up our students while also providing the additional support and the information they bring, talk about that more and build up our students while also providing the additional support and the information they need to succeed, there's no reason we cannot raise graduation rates, and of course, that's easier said than done, I know, but I think working on that and building student strengths and I always think of it as reminding students of the strengths they have, that they brought with them because sometimes they think this environment is so new that I don't really have anything to contribute to this and by talking with them and letting them know that you see the strengths. They bring some of those things we talked about the resilience, the persistence, the strategic thinking, the goal setting, the ambition, the drive, the desire to really make a difference for themselves and their families. Those are all strengths and the overcoming that they did to get here. If they are reminded that they're bringing those in, that they have those already, I think for those students they see that they can internalize that and then they can go out and say, yes, I have the ability to succeed here, so I'm just going to head out and I'm going to make this happen, and then that grit comes into effect again.
Speaker 1:So what do these articles share and where do they differ? Well, both pieces certainly challenge the traditional deficit lens applied to first-gen students because they highlight the inherent strengths and assets they offer. Minicozzi and Roda, of the first article, focused on the cultural and systemic challenges for students and they emphasized the importance of navigating the hidden academic curriculum hidden academic curriculum While Garrison and Gardner, of the second article, emphasize identifying and leveraging personal strengths through positive psychology. So very similar papers in what they talk about with first-gen students and how to support them, but looking at it through different lenses. Ultimately, like both articles, advocate for a broader understanding of college readiness. That includes not just the academic preparation but also equipping students to navigate the new cultural and institutional landscapes of the college and university they intend. So I think there are two strategies that come out of that, and I think these actionable strategies that we can implement are already in effect, so I don't think anything is going to surprise you. And the first one is to develop custom first-year seminars for first-generation students.
Speaker 1:You know Minicozian wrote his research. It became clear that first-gen students can often struggle with understanding the hidden curriculum which was also mentioned in the second article, such as cultural expectations and self-advocacy, and so the article highlights how these students are taught a go-it-alone mentality, which often can hinder their ability to seek help. And I know, you know, that that ability to ask for help, that ability to accept help, is so important to student success. And so they recommend, to address this, that educators create targeted first-year seminars that explicitly teach skills like time management, prioritization and effective communication with faculty. I know some of the most successful programs I've done have had students act out communications with faculties, with situations that we know have come up. They have a lot of fun acting that out, but they also can share with each other what that experience is like, especially if there are upper class students as TAs or mentors in the class to talk about what they've done when they've come up against some of those situations with faculty members.
Speaker 1:We've also done some faculty panels where faculties come in and they talk about. Faculty comes in and they talk about ways that they wish students would communicate with them in certain situations and that has been a great way of kind of demystifying that relationship between students and faculty and it helps students practice advocating for themselves in a really safe space. So this first-gen seminar, which a lot of students, a lot of colleges do and I think more colleges could do, not only addresses the gap in knowledge about the hidden curriculum but also leverages the students' strengths, such as independence, as was mentioned in the article. The second takeaway is that establishing faculty and staff training programs about first-generation students and their experiences is vital. They talk about the psychological assets of proactivity and optimism among first-gen students and how educators can develop training programs for faculty and staff. So these programs obviously would focus on recognizing and nurturing these strengths in students and a specific suggestion from the article is to incorporate positive psychology practices within academic advising and classroom interactions. So faculty and staff train to identify, praise, student initiative, encourage an environment where students feel valued for their proactive contributions and by fostering this asset-based perspective some could even say maybe a growth mindset perspective educators can help first-gen students build their confidence and again leverage their unique strengths, which aligns with the article's findings.
Speaker 1:Those are some strategies based on specific insights from each article that I hope you find interesting, if not necessarily aha things, but maybe things that we can add to what we do or what the university does to support our first-gen students. So thank you so much for joining me on First Gen FM today. I hope you enjoyed listening to me talk about these two articles. I will definitely put the articles in the show notes so that, if you want to read them for yourselves, you can.
Speaker 1:I just think that the more we kind of transform our perspectives and think more about the assets our students bring in, the more we can help lead our students to having transformative experiences for themselves. If you would share this with other people, I would really appreciate that. The more people who rate and review and share it with others, the more we can all work together to support our first-gen students. So until next time, then, let's just keep inspiring and empowering the next generation, and this week, especially as it's the first full week in November, let us celebrate our students in First Generation Student Success Week. Thanks again, bye now.