First-generation students navigate identities at college, home
By Michael Schramm, University of Michigan June 22, 2015 8:10 am
While it's frequently documented that first-generation college students are at risk to struggle academically, they may also face social difficulties.
Some of these social struggles faced by students have been outlined in an article circulating theInternet.
In the article, Linda Banks-Santilli — an associate professor of education at Wheelock College — mentions that prior to college, many first-generation students are connected to their parents through lifestyle similarities like work, family and religion. These characteristics create an intergenerational continuity, a phenomenon through which values are conferred from parent to child. Once a child attends college, they break the cycle, which causes them to experience a shift in their identity. This may cause the first-generation student to develop distinct home and college identities, and navigating both may prove difficult.
But not all first-generation students feel a shift to the extent that they develop separate identities. The social experiences of first-generation students are vast and nuanced.
Take, for example, Tyler Lattimore, a rising sophomore at Emory University.
Tyler Lattimore
Once he arrived at school, Lattimore felt different from students whose parents attended college. Others used scholarly language — pedantic, overly-technical jargon — in lieu of colloquial language, which made Lattimore feel like they were trying to sound superior.
"I have very much always believed in saying what you need to say to be understood, not necessarily to sound intelligent."
Lattimore adds that he feels like an outcast at times given income differences. He says that when some people hear that he's president of Emory Quest Scholars, the Emory chapter ofQuestBridge — a club designed for talented students from low-income backgrounds — people frequently make him feel like he needs a crutch to succeed.
Lattimore once had a particularly difficult experience inviting people to a social for Emory Quest Scholars.
"Immediately after they'd hear "low-income," you could see a change in their visage and countenance," he says. "People either make you feel like you are someone to pity or that you only got here because you're poor or a minority, making you feel like you don't belong."
But these differences didn't cause Tyler to try to hide his background.
"Instead, I think that I learned to own my status as a first-generation student and to wear it proudly. Embracing and not hiding it has made my college experience all the better."
He adds: "My experience and my growth as a person has been what it has been because I am a first-generation student."
While Lattimore feels more connected with his home environment, Boston University student Danica Drezner believes that going to college has deepened the disconnect between her and her extended family due to new perspectives that she's gained through higher education.
"The thing is I don't really talk to them just because I can't relate my life to theirs," Drezner says.
Danica Drezner
Growing up, Drezner's parents never attended college. Her mother was a successful bartender and her father was a car salesman. Since they lived in Las Vegas — a popular tourist destination — Drezner believes the two were able to make a livable income in the tourism industry — an industry which does not require a college degree.
Drezner says that higher education has increased her skepticism of media bias, especially when it comes to issues as sexism, racism and other social justice topics. This has shifted her political views from those shared by her family, which are more conservative.
While Drezner has struggled with differing perspectives at home, she says she hasn't experienced much of a struggle at school with her peers.
"I generally focus on myself," Drezner says. "From my perspective, I am just another student working hard in subjects I'm very passionate about."
If anything, Drezner thinks her background may have been an advantage. Since her parents were working so much, she often had to figure out day-to-day problems on her own. "Growing up, my parents worked a lot, and they didn't really push so much, like, reading books and stuff. But more of like, 'Where's your head in this situation, think things through, figure it out on your own.'"
Similar to Drezner, Brown University student Gabriel Reyes had an unconventional upbringing that enhanced his social skills. Given that both of his parents are undocumented, Reyes says they were always weaving in and out of minimum wage jobs, switching between schools, towns and sometimes states.
Reyes never lived in the same place for over a year. He was always adapting to new people and environments, and he believes that actually helped him socially when arriving at college.
Gabe Reyes
"In retrospect, this benefitted me in college because it helped me develop skills to navigate various departments and resources to ensure that I would take on any opportunities I can, but also how to make meaningful interactions with my peers."
While Reyes was able to interact more effectively with his peers, he doesn't feel that attending an Ivy League has caused him to develop a pretentious or elitist identity.
But he he feels like those around him — particularly in his humble hometown — perceive him differently. Though his experience in college has strengthened the relationship with his parents, he has been assigned two identities: a "kid from New Mexico" and a "kid from Brown."
The two identities are frequently at war.
Reyes recalls a time wearing his Brown University shirt in a New Mexico Starbucks. Striking up a conversation with some people in line, they asked if he went to Brown. When Reyes said yes, they proceeded to insinuate Brown was a school that favored students with a white, privileged background. After clarifying his background as Hispanic, the people in line were still upset, making Reyes feel "a little uncomfortable."
Despite his personal struggles, Reyes says his experiences aren't representative of the whole.
"I feel every first generation student has a different journey," he says.
