Monday, April 13, 2015

CONVERSATIONS - First-Generation College Students

"First-generation students face unique struggles at elite colleges" PBS NewsHour 4/9/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  First-generation college students often face more challenges than their peers, financially and culturally.  At Ivy League schools, the difference can be even more dramatic.  The New York Times explores how a conference at Brown University has helped bring them together.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Finally tonight, a segment from our partners at The New York Times.

Last month, students from some of the nation’s most selective colleges gathered at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.  Known as first gens, or generation, these students, who are in the first in their family to attend college, face unique challenges amid the privilege and opportunity of elite educations.

STANLEY STEWART:  For me, a first generation college student is…

ANAMARIA MENESES-LEON:  Everything is a little bit harder.

JENNIFER TELSCHOW:  A great privilege, but also a higher responsibility.

TRAVIS REGINAL:  There is not a lot of room for error.

DESTIN SISEMORE:  I’m the second person ever from my high school to go to an Ivy League school.

MANDEEP SINGH:  My dad works as a taxi driver.

KIMBERLY ROSA:  It means that I’m still able to do just as well as my peers who have maybe had better resources.

STANLEY STEWART:  Sort of like a blessing and a curse.

For me personally, making friends at Brown was a little bit difficult just because I had never been surrounded by people who were this rich in my entire life, because you’re sort of wondering, OK, like, what do I have in common with these people?  Like, do I sort of truly belong?


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