CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --It's First-Generation Student Month at Harry S. Truman College and to celebrate, the college hosted its annual First-Generation Celebration on November 8.
November 8 marks the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ("HEA"), which led to the creation of a set of programs designed to support first generation students.
Vivian Rivera, Truman Student Activity Center Coordinator, said the celebration invited first generation staff and students to converse about their experiences in a more casual setting.
"A lot of our staff members are also first generation college students, and so that's what we're trying to do here, bringing our staff, bringing our students and connecting them with one another," Rivera said.
She said she hopes the celebration will remind first-generation students that they're supported and prioritized.
"I hope that they feel seen and hope that they feel heard, that they feel appreciated, and that they know that we are here for them," Rivera said. "We like to say that we're 'one Truman,' we're one family because our school is so small, even though sometimes it feels like it's so big."
Rivera is a first generation student herself as well as a College City Schools alumna.
She said she thinks her shared experience with other students helps other students share some worries they might have about college with her.
"I think it sometimes does help students kind of open up and feel a little bit more comfortable with somebody who is a little bit more understanding of what this new journey looks like for them," Rivera said.
One of Truman's first generation students, Shandalaya Coleman, said college was initially a tough subject for her. She said she didn't want to go to college, but was heavily encouraged by her family, as well as her high school basketball teacher.
Coleman said she was raised by a single mom, who didn't graduate college, so her knowledge of college was very scarce. That made it hard to take going to college seriously.
"I didn't know anything about college and my family, of course, they couldn't tell me anything, because nobody, you know, went to college," she said. "I didn't really know anything. If don't know anything about something, you're not really gonna mess with it."
Coleman said her family is proud, though, and that the weight of being a first generation college student is not lost on her, especially when they're telling other people about her.
"Because I'm like the first person in my family to ever go to college and going to finish, my family carries that over my head a lot. Sometimes they'd be like, 'Oh, Miss college student!'" she said. "And that's the first thing that they say about me when they're introducing me to someone new."
Coleman is a second-year student at Truman, and will be graduating soon, so she said she's thinking about what she wants to do in the future.
She currently runs a manicure business. Coleman said she advertises through social media, but that she eventually wants to go to a four-year college, take some cosmetology classes, and get licensed for her nail business.
Trenton Rhaburn is another first-generation student at Truman whose initial aversion to college turned into an appreciation. Rhaburn is in his first semester of college, but he said it wasn't always his plan to be there.
He said the conversation with his mom about college was not a fun one to have.
"It was an argument, because I did not feel like going to school," he said. "I wasn't really like that academically."
Rhaburn said his mom pushed him in the right direction and that he's happy he's at college now.
"It's helpful though, because sometimes even though you don't want to do something, like, your parents want you to, like anything you do, and you can always learn something from it," he said. "So, it was a good thing."
"Especially coming from an immigrant family, it means to be brave, doing something that no one in your family has ever done before," he said. "I think that's the most brave thing that you can do, especially if you have other goals in mind."
Rhaburn said he was originally going to study computer science, but discovered he had a passion for cars. He said now he hopes to do something useful and hopes to maybe be a mechanic in the future.
Rhaburn isn't the only one who has dreams, though.
Second-year student at Truman Samuel Figueroa immigrated to the United States from Venezuela last year once he realized he needed a college degree to pursue his dreams.
"I was like 'My goals are way ahead of what my home country can offer me, so I'm just gonna take this opportunity," he said. "You get a lot of scholarships here at Truman, so I was like, I'm gonna do it."
Figeroa said he's already thinking about four-year colleges to go to after graduating from Truman and that he hopes to use what he's learned in college to make a difference in some way.
"My biggest dream is to make a change, leave a footprint, get out of the word of imagination."
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