FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE OF FIRST-GENERATION

Professors who were first generation themselves inspire students

Ripon College has a number of programs and initiatives to foster the success of first-generation students. A large part of this support comes from the faculty and staff. Especially meaningful is support that comes from those who were firstgeneration students themselves.

“It is one of the things that makes Ripon College so special,” says Jean Rigden, director of teacher education and faculty mentor in the Franzen Center for Academic Success. She was a first-generation student and says, “There are several other faculty and staff who were also first-generation college students. We understand the difficulties that our students may be encountering. Helping students see the value of their education and the opportunities that will open up to them with a college degree is so rewarding.”

Director of Teacher Education Jean Rigden reviews student-teacher placements with first-generation student Hannah Roehl ’20 of Princeton, Wisconsin.

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Joe Hatcher, professor of psychology and the Pieper Family Chair in Servant Leadership, agrees. “I think that being mentored by someone who sees you as a person and who understands something about the difficulties of being first generation can be priceless,” he says. “I enjoy being part of that experience for first-generation students, and I enjoy telling them that they couldn’t possibly know less about college than I did.”

Associate Professor of Sociology Marc Eaton remembers what it feels like being a first-generation student. “I do remember feeling a bit out of place when other students would mention what their parents did,” he says. “My father worked in a sawmill and my mother was the bookkeeper for an orthodontic office. So, while we were able to remain in the lower middle class, we certainly were not living lavishly. In my hometown, the ‘people on the hill’ (figuratively and literally, as the most expensive homes were on the hills surrounding the valley in which the city was built) had professional jobs, such as doctors, lawyers, investors and successful small business owners of all stripes. These were the people who the ‘people in the valley’ (like me) generally thought of as rich, spoiled and full of themselves.

“At Western Washington University (in Bellingham, Washington), I found out that nearly all of my friends’ parents were these people in their respective communities. This caused me to question whether I belonged at college, since I had never been affiliated with or been accepted by the ‘rich kids’ in high school. Academically, I felt confident that I could make it through college, but seeing that I was one of a few blue-collar kids on campus made me feel inadequate and out of place.

“It wasn’t that I was ashamed of my parents; in fact, I was very proud that they had worked hard to provide for my brother and me. I felt a great deal of responsibility to take college seriously so as to make good use of the money that they were spending on my education. What I feared was the judgment of my peers: that sense that once they knew that I was not ‘one of them,’ perhaps they would reject me.”

Over time, Eaton says, he began to see his blue-collar background as a badge of honor. “I took pride in the fact that I had made it to college despite not having the same kinds of opportunities as some of these other kids. I dedicated myself even more to succeeding to prove to myself and others that students coming from my type of background could thrive at college,” he says.

Hatcher sees this in today’s first-generation students, as well. “College is hard and especially at first,” he says. “I think a lot of students think, ‘Do I belong here? Can I do this?’ When you consider that being first generation often goes along with coming from less financially secure backgrounds, these students face obstacles that others don’t. It is more likely, all things being equal, that they may decide or be forced to decide to leave college.

Professor of Psychology and the Pieper Family Chair in Servant Leadership Joe Hatcher

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“Feeling connected to a faculty member, having someone to talk with when selfdoubts are strong, and knowing that others have succeeded from the same start can be critical to helping students stay on track,” he says.

All these faculty members felt the same uncertainty about how to navigate the college experience as do today’s firstgeneration students.

“My family and I had no idea about how to visit a college,” Rigden says. “We didn’t call or make an appointment, we just showed up to the college one day that my mom didn’t have to work. We found out that it just so happened to be a preview day and we were quickly added to a tour and group to participate with. We also weren’t sure how to complete the forms for financial aid.”

Hatcher says, “I had a great attitude toward learning but knew essentially nothing about college, about residence halls, how to study or anything else. I really had to figure everything out by myself and didn’t become a ‘good’ student until my senior year. Knowing what I now know about how good advising can be, I look back and see that I didn’t get much help from my advisor beyond picking classes that didn’t conflict. I didn’t really have any aspirations beyond ‘doing OK,’ and no one encouraged me to think beyond that; my parents never really asked me how I was doing or asked about my daily experience.”

Eaton says one of the things he likes most about Ripon College is that it serves so many first-generation college students and students coming from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. With his background, he says, he can identify with these students and approaches mentoring them differently.

“Are they questioning whether ‘people like them’ belong at college?” Eaton says. “Are they carrying the emotional burden of their family’s hopes and dreams, which are often foisted upon the shoulders of the first child to head off to college? Are they worried about whether their family can afford the financial burden of their education? Are they working part time (or more) to pay for school, and that’s why they’re always so tired and having a hard time studying? Are they afraid to ask for academic help, and are they even aware that offices such as Student Support Services are available to assist them in their college careers?”

“These types of questions run through my head. I make a point of mentioning that I, too, was a first-generation college student as a way of relating to them and showing them that the fact that they are the first in their family to pursue a four-year degree should be something they reflect on with pride, not a fact that they try to hide or ignore.”

Rigden finds it an honor to help first-generation students find their way in their educational journey. “I want to be a person that they can reach out to when they have concerns or aren’t sure how to navigate something on campus,” she says. “I have developed some wonderful relationships with students and it is so powerful to see them become successful in their academic pathway as well as their goals for their careers.”

Associate Professor of Sociology Marc Eaton

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The standout moment of a first-generation journey, for Eaton, is seeing the pride on the faces of first-generation students and their families at graduation. “Sure, every family is proud of their children when they walk across the stage and receive their bachelor’s degrees,” he says. “But the pride and elation that first-generation students and their families feel is almost palpable.

“It is a sense that we did this; that the family has succeeded because the student has earned that four-year degree. Nothing in the college experience matches the sense of accomplishment that first-generation students feel when they hold that degree in their hands and smile ear-to-ear for family photos at graduation.”