First-Gen Initiative Hosts Luncheon for First-Generation Students in Bowling Green

First-Gen Initiative Hosts Luncheon for First-Generation Students in Bowling Green

Bowling Green – Around 30 percent of undergraduate students at Western Kentucky University (WKU) are considered first-generation. On Wednesday, some of these students along with faculty members and alumni came together for the “F1rst Gen Intergenerational Lunch” held at Downing Student Union. The lunch is organized by the First-Gen Initiative, who host several programs with a primary goal of empowering these first-generation students as well providing them a platform to connect with each other.

Defining First-Generation Students

A first-generation student, according to WKU, is defined as a student who comes from a family where neither the parent nor the guardian has completed a traditional four-year college education. Thus, even if another family member, such as a sibling or aunt, has graduated from a four-year university, the student still qualifies as first-generation.

First-Gen Initiative and Its Programs

First-Gen Initiative sprung out of the First Scholar Network – an organization that strives to dismantle barriers that first-generation students often encounter. Two years back, WKU received an invitation to become part of this network. Ever since then, the university has been recipient of considerably positive feedback from the community.

Dawn Winters, the Interim Director of the Student Success Center for the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, holds the hope that the organization would help in removing the stigma surrounding first-generation students. Winters, who also shares the same background as a first-generation student, recollects her own initial struggles and feelings of being an outlier. Thus, she believes in the importance of such events which give students an opportunity to take pride in their unique journeys, and also form connections with others who have been on similar paths.

First-Generation Students and their experience

Martha Onda, a freshman nursing student originally from Tanzania, has fully embraced the First-Gen Initiative. After arriving in Kentucky in 2019, Onda has regularly attended the initiative’s events and feels a strong sense of belonging. “Every event I go to for First Generation, I meet new people. Just being here makes me feel good.” she shared.

The initiative has recognized that first-generation students often belong to another under-represented minority groups. Therefore, events like these luncheons are important in continuing the dialogue on these students’ experiences and in establishing a strong support network for them. The initiative invites people who are not first-generation students to these events in order to broaden the scope of interaction and understanding amongst all students.

Freshman manufacturing engineering student, Ekyoci Welongo, heard about the luncheon from a friend and thought of attending it. After a positive experience, he highly recommends these meetings to fellow students, emphasizing the utility of resources and networking opportunities which can be explored at these events.

Impact of The First-Gen Initiative

Not only do these events provide boundless opportunities for students to network and interact, but they also enable students to earn credits which could potentially make them eligible for a scholarship drawing. In the past, the First-Gen Initiative has succeeded in implementing significant programs like the living-learning community and high-school summer camp. The organization hopes to launch more such events for fostering community development in the future.