FirstGenFM
For educators looking to connect, learn, and share knowledge about serving first-generation college and college-bound students.
FirstGenFM
Guiding Students From First-Gen Student to First-Gen Professional with Lisa Rivera
Lisa Rivera, the director of First Generation Student Initiatives at Suffolk University, joins us to share her journey from being a first-gen student in Florida to making her mark in higher education. Listen as Lisa recounts how the AVID program and her mentor, Ms. Dennison, were pivotal in her path to Allegheny College. Her story is a testament to the transformative power of mentorship and supportive educational programs, sparking curiosity about how such resources shape first-generation students' academic journeys and beyond.
Transitioning from college to career can be a daunting experience, especially for first-gen students. Lisa opens up about her early professional hurdles, from working multiple jobs to make ends meet to the unexpected challenges she faced at a temp agency. Her narrative highlights themes of resilience and adaptability as she navigated job hunting and career building without prior internships. Through Lisa's experiences, we explore how first-gen students can leverage curiosity and a willingness to learn in creating their professional paths, even when things don't go as planned.
More about Lisa Rivera
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamriv/
lisa.rivera@suffolk.edu
Lisa Rivera, EdM, is the inaugural Director of First-Generation Student Initiatives, joining the Center for First-Generation & Educational Equity at Suffolk University in November 2022, where she leads initiatives to enhance programming and support for first-generation students, faculty, and staff.
A first-generation college graduate and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) alumna, Lisa earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts and Women’s Studies from Allegheny College in 2014 and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a concentration on Higher Education Administration from Boston University in 2019.
Previously, Lisa spent seven years at Boston University’s Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, where she advanced through roles in admissions, student affairs, and career development. She supported the student lifecycle from recruitment to career entry, including facilitating admissions cycles, coordinating student affairs and student organization programming, and delivering career readiness guidance, including teaching lectures on preparing for career and residency interviews and leading an annual career fair, integrating student support with strategic planning to enhance retention and success.
An advocate for first-generation students, Lisa has co-advised Alpha Alpha Alpha (Tri-Alpha) chapters, the national honor society for first-generation college students, at both Boston University and Suffolk University, participated in allyship and developed championing first-generation programming at both universities for faculty and staff audiences, and presented at the NASPA national conference on support for first-generation graduate and professional students and the BACHA’s local conference on career readiness for higher education professionals.
With a commitment to equity and access, Lisa continues to foster community and create pathways for first-generation success inside and outside of the classroom.
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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.
Speaker 1:Today I'm talking to Lisa Rivera, who is the inaugural director of First Generation Student Initiatives, a member of the Center for First Generation and Educational Equity at Suffolk University in the great city of Boston, where she leads initiatives to enhance programming and support for first-generation students, faculty and staff.
Speaker 1:A first-generation college grad and avid Advancement Via Individual Determination alumna, lisa has a bachelor's degree in communication, arts and women's studies from Allegheny College and a master's in educational leadership and policy studies with a concentration in higher ed administration from Boston University. She's an advocate for first-generation students, has advised Tri-Alpha chapters, the National Honor Society for first-gen college students at both Boston and Suffolk universities, and champions first-generation programming for faculty and staff audiences. So I'm delighted to welcome Lisa Rivera to talk with us today. Hey, welcome, lisa, to the First Gen FM podcast. I am really excited to talk to you today about being first-gen, not just in college but for all ways, and how that identity kind of helps with transitions, and you know transitions to college, transitions to career and even your journey through all of those things. So why don't we just start with that, like, tell me about your journey to college as a first-gen student.
Speaker 2:Sure, well, thank you for having me, jen. It's always nice to see you at other meetings and conferences because you're just such a fun, genuine energy. So just before we start the conversation, I did want to put that out there. I always like connecting with you. Thank you, I appreciate it, of course. So my first-gen journey Okay, I am originally from St Petersburg, florida, in the Tampa Bay area, and I had a lot of family growing up in the Cleveland area in Ohio.
Speaker 2:So you know bucket that for a little bit later in the wraparound conversation. But in my high school I had a program called AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determinism. I think I love AVID. Yes, you know about AVID, I do. Oh, not everybody does. Okay, that brings me so much joy, truthfully. But so I was an Avid kid where I don't. I met another program actually the other day and I was reminiscing. They were asking me questions about like what do you remember from the program? And I remember having the big binders to walk around with and back in my day we still had textbooks. So we had a huge binder along with all of these textbooks in our backpack and that was like the thing that connected all of us for Avid, but apparently everything's online now, so then I didn't need to worry about that part, which was a real shocker for me in the moment. I was like I didn't think that that was that outdated.
Speaker 1:But and they also don't build up strong muscles from carrying those things all around either. Where's that?
Speaker 2:back muscle resiliency yes, it's just not there Right. So at least we benefited somehow from it. But so I joined that program my sophomore year and I had the same teacher all throughout AVID. Her name at the time was Ms Dennison. I think now she's Mrs Lee, but Sarah Dennison is how I knew her and she was just and still kind of is actually everything that I ever really aspired to be, because she was so kind to all of her students, like still playful and joking around but really pushed us when she knew that we were capable of so much more and really just wanted the best for us, whatever that looked like, whatever decision we made at the end of the day. So she's someone I look back on fondly all the time when I think about just the work that we're doing in first gen broadly. So I will probably forward her this episode, anyways.
Speaker 2:So we had a project in high school in that program and we had to choose a college from the book Colleges. That Changed Lives and one of the colleges ended up being Allegheny College and I had two alumni at my high school and I didn't even know about it at the time. One was associated with AVID, one was one of the college counselors. I think I didn't even know about it at the time. One was associated with AVID, one was one of the college counselors, I think. And I remember just I remember researching Allegheny and I loved everything about it. I loved all the majors, I loved the environment there and it ended up being in a suburb of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania. It was like right in between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and so one of my big goals was to be closer to my family in Cleveland, because we would only go a couple of summers out of the year and I kind of wanted to make up for lost time with my cousins.
Speaker 2:I I, yeah, even though I'm an only child and like a small cohort, is in Florida, big family person in that regard. So I, yeah, I remember only applying to Allegheny and maybe two other colleges in Florida One denied me and one I didn't even complete the application for, truthfully. And I got my acceptance letter to Allegheny on Christmas Eve and I remember seeing a personalized letter that referred to my involvement in theater as a big theater kid and just really excited that I would join. I don't know if they made personalized letters for everybody, but to me as a senior in high school I was like this is amazing. And so yeah, and then from there just obviously finished out senior year, went over to Meadville and then the fun began at Allegheny.
Speaker 1:What was that transition like? Like was it everything you expected? Was it better, worse? Like what was your mindset going in?
Speaker 2:I was very excited because I got to be independent and fully on my own and farther away from home like very far away from home but still within arm's reach, in a sense of family in Cleveland. So I was very excited about that. But when I got there, very much full of energy and all of that. But then I think after some time my cat's running in the background ferociously, so I sorry I she's so loud to me but you might not be able to hear her. I actually do. No, not a peep. Oh yeah, she's there, she's there doing her thing. But after the excitement settled I did.
Speaker 2:I started to feel more overwhelmed with just either managing my own time or not knowing what the next best step was to do to reach out for office hours and I also think I don't know if it's still considered a PWI or if it technically was considered a PWI when I was there. But it felt like I was at a predominantly white institution and my family's from Puerto Rico. So it was coming from my own experiences and jumping into a new institution and a whole system to navigate on top of just really feeling not in my element. And St Pete was so culturally diverse, let alone economically but very culturally diverse. My high school was yeah, I remember that being one of the things in high school there, but anyways. So I made friends eventually and it was nice to kind of open up about some things that I was experiencing. But I don't think that first year I had made a friend.
Speaker 2:That was also first gen. So it was also a little bit difficult to feel comfortable opening up about it because oftentimes I felt like I would be the only one. And you know, today we now talk about first gen more. There's a whole national center right Dedicated to getting all this knowledge and research and all those things. But you know there was much more, I would say, in my experience, a stigma around throwing that out there because it meant that, oh well, your family didn't have either like the funds to go previously. So what kind of household did you grow up in, or those kinds of things. So it definitely took some time to adjust. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what did you end up majoring in? Did you major in theater?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't. I was in the theater building, though. I majored in communication arts and then we were required at Allegheny to minor and it had to be something that was outside of like whatever I forgot it was had to be like interdisciplinary sort of oh okay, that's not quite the language for it. All that to say, I minored in women's studies, but they changed it to, I think, gender and sexuality studies women's gender and sexuality studies right after I left Allegheny. So my degree probably says something a little bit different.
Speaker 1:But yeah, okay, so, all right. So here you are. Then you you made the transition to college. You're like I'm in my major, I'm making friends, I'm being involved, um, but then you have to make another transition as a first gen so you're still the same identity into a career. So what happened next?
Speaker 2:So what happened next? Oh well, I remember being, from sophomore year to senior year, a tour guide at admissions and then eventually a guidance counselor's assistant my senior year and it was known as the best job on campus and I loved it. I loved giving tours. I love learning about the history of Allegheny. I loved just all this like rah-rah behind it and feeling really enthusiastic about like being in this space to really learn and grow and question things. So that's where I kind of found love with higher ed, cheesily through college doors.
Speaker 2:But I did not intern at all throughout college. I didn't intern because I worked at the restaurant that I had always worked at since I was in high school. It's kind of like a Texas roadhouse, but the Florida version. It was called Cody's Roadhouse and I loved working there every summer. I got to see friends that I would leave and come back to and all that. But I got to save money for the upcoming academic year for different things that would come up, basic things, and I was in a sorority in school too. So that was my way of paying my dues on my own, my dues and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So luckily Allegheny was so small that the Greek life environment was very different than some of the larger institutions, especially in the South. It was much more like my best friends were in sororities that weren't mine. Anyways, all of that to say Greek life was very different. It was much more chill at Allegheny, but anyway. So, yeah, I did an intern. I just worked throughout the summers so I didn't have like real working experience and something that I could use after with my degree.
Speaker 2:But at the time everybody said, oh, you're in communication arts, so marketing is the way to go or public relations is the way to go. There was always this assumption that that's what you do, at least in the world. That's at the time what was assumed. But I never. I was never really kind of my calling. I loved public relations at one point because I think I liked the idea of it as this like girl boss kind of coming into their own, but that was just never my personality also.
Speaker 2:So I ended up moving home for a year and working at the same restaurant and I got to basically spend more time with my parents and get some of that time back, since I was gone for so long and I was originally supposed to move to Pittsburgh or the greater Pittsburgh area, um, and that that fell through. That that, uh, experience fell through. So, um, my best girlfriends and I said we wanted to move to a big city, but we didn't want New York because that felt quite too big, but we wanted just a brand new slate. And one was coming from Cleveland, one was coming from Chicago and then me from St Pete. We said Boston, it's going to be it. There's alumni there that we didn't even really think about. Yeah, I know, right, and it's a big enough city to where you know we can go. We don't have as many other responsibilities or ties at this point in our lives. We were very lucky, because that's not the case for so many people at our age at the time. Right, yeah, we recognize that.
Speaker 2:But then we moved up here and I remember temping at an organization. I don't remember exactly what they did. It was like research for legal cases maybe. So, you know, cool organization but much more corporate than my, my personality. I guess we'll just call it that. I remember this was so embarrassing. But I remind students of this story too because they can learn from it.
Speaker 2:I attempted that agency when we first moved here because I didn't apply or didn't hear back about any higher ed jobs that I applied to. I ended up applying to jobs and admissions with my experience from undergrad. So I worked at this temp agency and I remember telling the person who was kind of like our go-to boss, hey, is it okay if I leave a little bit early on this day, I can come in either earlier or stay a little bit later. Another day I have an interview for another job, so I just want to make sure I'm getting my hours in and all of that. And I remember her looking at me a little bit more confused, like why would you tell me something like this? And I remember her also saying you know what your contract stipulates, right? Like you know what you're obligated to do. And I was like, oh yeah, and in my mind I'm like this is temporary. We both an understanding that this is temporary. I'm clearly going to be looking for other jobs that are permanent and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:And I think that was like middle of the week. And then by the end of that week I got a call from the temp agency saying that they are letting me go because of, like an Excel speaking of Excel spreadsheets, some issue with me in Excel and I don't remember, using Excel, I might've sent an incorrect email to somebody, which was a mistake, and that's true I did mess up on that, but nothing wild like that. But I know that it had to do with actually being open about it, because I got a follow-up interview that I again communicated to them about and she was still like why? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, all that to say, I lost that job and I ended up getting the job that I was interviewing for, which was an admissions and student affairs representative at Boston University's dental school on the medical campus in the South End, and I was there for seven years and I just continued my love of higher ed there. So it worked out in the end. But a lot of risky business with the move and not having visited Boston or seen our apartment that we signed up for or had a job lined up. So that's major and I wouldn't encourage that for everybody, necessarily, but it worked out and I but I do encourage people to keep some of their information to themselves when it comes to temp jobs like the hard way.
Speaker 1:But what a risk taker you know to just be like, okay, we're picking Boston, I mean, you were going at least with two other people. So you're like I have a home base, I have people, and then no job. But then you got a temp position so you did something so that you would work there. That's that. I think that's very brave to just kind of jump out like that as a first gen student. I guess, I guess, but you're not a student now. So we need we need more words like as a first gen professional, as a first gen, you know, in higher ed, what. How does it feel to be a first gen in higher ed and how does your experience then kind of inform what you do working with students?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, this is a really good question because I feel like we we talk about it in some of our communities and our groups. We don't always talk about it, you know, as we have talked about in other meetings and other spaces. You know, the first gen identity never leaves you. You kind of remain first gen for the rest of your life and that's not a scary thing but it's just kind of the reality of life and your situation. So, being a student and then turning around to then work in higher ed, we have an experience in the sense of now knowing what a registrar's office is, because before you get to school, right, you're like what is a registrar's office or at least I did and or what are office hours, all those things. So you have an understanding of some of those basics. But now you're working behind the scenes and you're working within those systems and if you didn't understand something before and you graduated not knowing, like the why behind something, then you're still entering a brand new industry, regardless of whether you were a student there, without really understanding that why also. So I think we'll always have that motivation and that curiosity and the desire to ask questions, having been first gen and then working in higher ed. But it's a double-edged sword. I love it because you get to see students who you feel like have a little bit of you in them, that similarity finally reached that point of success for graduation, or maybe they got their dream internship, or maybe they're just having a really good day and that's all it takes and you feel so much joy from that. It's just joyful to see people experience joy also. But it's a double-edged sword because on top of that you do have expectations still working in the industry to know all of the things. And we don't know all of the things. And sometimes people who are continuing gen not even first gen still don't know all of the things. So you ask questions but then sometimes you're labeled as the person who has too many questions. Or you want to get into this committee or this group because it really excites you and you want to do something that's more than just your everyday job.
Speaker 2:But joining an industry for the first time and having that excitement, I think for some people not everybody but feels a little uncomfortable and like it's threatening to the status quo of what is and what has always been. But that's so vital for anything new to happen, for anything to grow. So it's tough because it diminishes. Sometimes it feels like, oh my gosh, like what am I doing here? I'm not progressing in the same ways I wanted and I just wanted this one piece of joy to be a part of this one group or this one thing.
Speaker 2:And it's tough when you're first starting out because it's a little bit threatening. But I also think that we as first gens always have a strong sense of justice in some capacity, sense of justice in some capacity. So that kind of resistance we feel sometimes is, in my experience at least, used as more motivation to be consistent, to find some other opportunities, maybe outside of your everyday, that lets you experience and do the things that you'd like to do and continue to ask those questions because eventually something's going to give, Eventually something is going to move in the direction that you've been trying to move and that'll open a new door and opportunity.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that you're talking about the strengths that first-gen students bring to education our profession, but to a profession in general, that asking questions, that curiosity, but to a profession in general, that asking questions, that curiosity. I mean, I've had professors tell me that they love having first-gen students in their class because they the way she put it is like a lot of other students have, you know, learned like this is the way to do things and this is how you ask questions. But a first-gen student might not have had that in their high school, for whatever reason. And so they just come up and they ask these questions and you suddenly have to think of things in a different way and this professor was just like so excited. She's like what can I do? How can I get more first-gen students in my class? Um, but I think that curiosity is so key.
Speaker 1:I love that, that it's resilience. But it's in a way that you were talking about too, like I want to do these things, but if I can't do them directly, I'm going to have a workaround to like go under over around. You know, I'm going to figure out how I can get that and how I can find joy in doing what it is that I do. So I, I, I love those two. You know that you really talked about there that resilience piece and that curiosity piece, because I think that's so true. I see that all the time.
Speaker 2:Definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I mean I love the enthusiasm, but I do know exactly what you're talking about. Some people are like whoa, why are you so enthusiastic about this? We're just trying to get something done. It's like no, definitely we all have objectives to beat.
Speaker 2:It's like no, it's like, Definitely, we all have objectives to beat, for sure, but you're, you're totally right Like there's sometimes so much more to it than just a checkbox you know, and that's significant.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely, absolutely. That's great, but I love that. So when you're working with your students, do you? How do you prepare them for that transition to their first job?
Speaker 2:That's a good question, either internship or job, yeah, yeah, Kind of some of the things that we were just talking about about asking questions, ask away. It's tough to be labeled as that individual sometimes that has too many questions, but it's for a reason, right. And the other thing is you're there to ask those questions. That's part of the purpose of this. If an internship or a new job chances are, it's for a reason right. And the other thing is you're there to ask those questions. That's part of the purpose of this. If an internship or a new job chances are, it's probably entry level. So there's going to be so many more learning experiences and opportunities from that. So being on a college campus or going to your first entry level job, those are the places to maybe mess up for a little bit. Also right To then grow and learn from it for there.
Speaker 2:But sometimes it's down to the basics of just it feels a little silly to dress up, especially nowadays. I think we've gotten a little. Me too. I'm in the same boat of being a little bit more lax and things like that. But I've noticed with that those reminders just become so much more important because we are so used to being caught up in kind of our everyday of ease, but we're there to kind of bring our A game.
Speaker 2:So that, yes, includes asking questions, but that also includes building out your network too.
Speaker 2:So, you know, commingling with some of your colleagues in the same positions, interning or newbies at the organization, there's so much to learn from even your peers, not just people who are in higher positions.
Speaker 2:So, and those are the people that are going to be going through life with you in a sense right, Whether they, working in another organization or not, like you, have so much in common in a sense, not all the time, but in a sense, and it's it's just nice to turn around and to talk to somebody about your experience that can relate to what you're going through. Chances are, regardless of whether they're first gen or not, there's something there. But in addition to that, of course, talking to your boss a little bit more to hear about their experiences, or beyond that, Because, even if it's not just a task about like, how do I do X, Y and Z in my job, life experience and life mantras, all of that comes from people at these other organizations that you'll be jumping into for the first time, and I think life wisdom is just as important, if not sometimes even more important than the tangible things of how to do your job or what do you need to tack off a box of a list?
Speaker 1:you know. Yes, I agree, I mean, in some ways people use the word power skill, soft skills, but I like to call them power skills because I think they're so important and I think asking questions is one of those, like power skills, that curiosity piece. So let me ask you this so how do you teach, or do you teach, or what do you think about teaching students how to ask questions? So you know they're not just going in like you know, tell me about this. It's more of a trying to get the information they want, but doing it in a professional way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's another good question. You know it's simple, but it's still a challenge, right. Turning to your roommate or turning to another peer and sometimes saying things out loud and registering it like whoa, that's a little off-putting, or whoa, that's a little. Whatever are, your friend might be like well, wait, wait, wait, wait, a minute. Actually, like this is, this is a little sus, you know what I mean. So there's, you know, peer to peer and all of that, but there's an entire resource center or a department all dedicated to this kind of preparation through things like a career center, for example.
Speaker 2:And because being first gen is much more of a hot topic now, I think a lot of directors, other staff in those centers are becoming attuned to some of these questions that they might have, or some of these inexperience or experience in other ways we'll call it too with how to communicate and how to ask questions, especially because this generation of students lived through COVID in a much different way than what we did. You know, it's nice to look back at some similarities and stories that we have that might resonate with some of our students, but at the same time, they lived a completely different life and way of being in a time when we were probably learning how to be more tactful in, like, a high school setting, it just didn't really line up right. So, in addition to the buzzword being the buzzword for first gen knowing that there's much more research and literature even though it's still coming out, but that's out there about high school students that are now first gen students in college, and what does that mean compared to their COVID experience, how to communicate and how to really have your messaging resonate with them. So it's twofold it's comfortable turning to you're, it's comfortable turning to your friend and practicing, but using those resources. That's what they're there for.
Speaker 2:That is their job. That is why your college or university has dedicated time and resources and funding behind this. Like, take advantage of that resource to its end, because your tuition dollars go to it too. It affects you. Like, yes, use it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love, love that. I love the idea that, like practice on your peers because they can tell you if, like, whoa, that's yeah, like you said, that's off-putting or that was, that was a great question, um, and then career we call everybody calls it something different career development, career design, the career center, uh, all these different names. But to use them earlier, even than they think they need to, like don't just show up your senior year, like, go now. Yeah, I also think you know, for us is to role model, that asking questions is okay, it's a sign of strength, so that we ask them questions, you know, based on their experience, to get more information from them, about them, about their interests, but also to appreciate. When they ask us questions, I always like to say you know, thanks for reaching out, or that's a great question, and then you know my answer, just so they know like yeah, you're like, oh, you're not bothering me. Yeah, I'm here to answer your questions, so I'm so glad you asked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're right. Your point is about the onus being on us to an extent for faculty and staff. We're also meant to foster those relationships and build that bridge for comfortability, and without little things like one sentence acknowledgement in an email or leaving your office door open even though you might be really busy catching up on some other projects. But if a student wants to just pop in and, you know, talk to you for a bit, little things like that, those are our responsibility to your point and it adds to that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so what advice do you have for us, for me, for all of you out there listening about keeping that identity as first gen Like? What are, what are some of your thoughts on that and how can we pay more attention to that?
Speaker 2:And institutions are becoming more aware of the fact that we hold this identity beyond just our four years of undergrad or so, and so they're building spaces for community and to engage with one another, from first gen to first gen faculty and staff. Other institutions are also doing that as well. That's so important, even if it's not, you know, a webinar or like a formal conversation, open during a lunch hour for faculty and staff to learn, but just an open space for people to be like, hey, like we have lunch, coming into this space, come meet other first-gen faculty and staff and what have you. That's really important because in those conversations too, is where, yes, we talk about the things that resonate with both of our stories, but more ideas about how to move forward or new programming to have for faculty and staff to stay connected or to engage with students who are also first gen. All of that happens within these little community networking bubbles to keep pushing forward with the work. So I definitely think that's one thing.
Speaker 2:I think also working with the National Center First Gen Forward, who is just the leader in all things first gen in a lot of ways right, they have a plethora of resources through an entire journal dedicated to research and journal articles, but other little hubs for either like conferences or local conferences or not bulletin boards. But other little hubs for either like conferences or local conferences or not bulletin boards but like online boards where different conversations happen when you're involved in their organization. So to your point. I actually think that's really good. That's a good opportunity for those that are maybe earlier in their career, know what they want and don't really have the ability within their everyday role to do something like that, pushing to get involved in some way, even if it's being like a program reader or something like that for a conference where you're building those experiences. I mean, I guess this is more related to like doing first gen work specifically, but even as a first gen professional doing first gen work, reading the first gen program reviews.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's such a great way, an easy way to stay connected if you're part of that organization, that's you know at looking for reviewers. That's like such a nice and low-key way to kind of get involved, right, yeah, great idea.
Speaker 2:I. I know it's tough because our schedules can be busy and we're at this point getting to the year where it's like, all right, we're also ready for the holidays, just like the students are ready to be. So I can relate, I'm ready to, but yeah, it's just, it's it's staying in forward, especially as more research comes out about how COVID affected our students, or maybe how COVID affected us as first gen professionals. What does that look like? Right and and kind of going from there. I think those leaders are really good in in creating the knowledge that we need, but bringing it back more locally to have something like a simple cohort of faculty and staff that get together every so often for first-gens. That's, that's really important too. That's where the ideas happen, the further connections, all of that.
Speaker 1:So and that's where you find out too, on your campus. If a lot of people have the same idea and if they don't know what each other is doing yeah, yeah, like what. You have scholarships, first-gen students Like wait, like how can I help? Or what can I do, and somebody else comes up with an idea. You're like, oh, I've had that idea too, and then you have more people who can work on it, and without those gatherings, you just don't get a chance to do that which you know. I would like to do more of on my campus for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we I'm blanking on what the larger initiative is called right now, but it's coming from our diversity and inclusion office at Suffolk but there are just basically like different smaller cohorts that are more like cultural and identity based that we have across the university for faculty and staff and we've been talking about creating one for first gen. So right there with you of trying to bring something to flourishing and maybe even if it's easier for others on their campus to attach on a concept or anything like that that's already on their campus and that's like adjacent, to make it first gen, then that might make it easier to get buy-in from other campus partners.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Love that, Love that. How can people reach you if they have questions? If they're like Ooh, I like what's going on at Suffolk or that piece you said, like I want more, how can they reach out to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I I'm fine with a direct email right now. I know LinkedIn is great and I definitely get my LinkedIn as well, though that's another place to to connect, but I have to admit I have not been the best with LinkedIn this past academic year. I think my blurb is outdated. I I get overwhelmed with my regular social media. Last I checked, I posted, like March of last year, on my own personal Instagram and it was like a photo dump Part one. It said Where's part two? We have implications for more. Anyways, all that to say, my email it's lisarivera at suffolkedu Best place right now.
Speaker 1:Great and I will put that in the show notes. So anybody, if you're driving right now, don't worry, it's in the show notes. You can find it later, as well as a link to your LinkedIn profile that you'll probably update as the minute you get off this call with me Totally.
Speaker 2:It's not a winter break or spring objective at all. I don't know.
Speaker 1:There you go. There you go, because I will post this on LinkedIn so people can find the episode. They're all going to know.
Speaker 2:No, actually it's a good thing. They'll be like wait why I've been in her inbox or request for a while it's me. I'm overwhelmed. I'm just overwhelmed with online media sometimes.
Speaker 1:Lisa, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. I've enjoyed like hearing about your journey and and and your experiences as a first gen working with first gen and the advice that you shared, as well as the strengths that you feel that you and the first gen students you work with have, because I'm in a hundred percent agreement with pretty much everything that you said.
Speaker 2:So Well, thank you for having me, thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and keep that enthusiasm. Do not let anybody look at you and say, why are you so enthusiastic? Just bring it, because we're going to need that Next couple of years. We're going to need all the enthusiasm we can get.
Speaker 2:For sure, I agree 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thank you. And hey, for those of you who are listening, I would love it if you would subscribe and listen to this podcast and share it with other first gen professionals both in high school and in college, share it with those avid folks that you know who may be looking to hear about the success of an avid student. But I would appreciate that so much. And, as always, you can reach me at Jen that's J-E-N at firstjenfmcom, and I would love to hear from you if you want to be on the podcast or if you just have questions or topics you want me to talk about. So thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you next week. I keep threatening them that I'm going to go on TikTok, but I'm a little afraid I'm going to become famous and so I'm hesitant, and they just laugh.
Speaker 2:You would be famous, Jen. You absolutely would be.
Speaker 1:Oh goodness, be careful what you wish for right.