First Graduate

Several times a year, First Graduate program staff visit our college students on their campuses. The visits allow staff to check in and offer ongoing support.

Campus visits are a part of the ongoing case management that First Graduate provides college students to ensure they are engaged in campus life, know how to identify resources, access supportive services, stay in good standing academically, and manage their financial aid debt.

In October, Director of Programs Sandra Park dropped in on a few First Graduate coeds while she was also attending the National College Access Network conference in Washington, D.C.  She had a few student updates to share:

Yvette, Junior, Harvard University
Yvette participated in a panel discussion hosted by Education Pioneers. Conducted via Skype, the panel explored issues of race, class and gender in education. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Yvette is also planning on going to Namibia in January to study and live abroad during her second junior-year semester. She plans to head back to South Africa the following summer (she worked there last summer with World Teach) to do research on the education systems in both countries.

Guillermo, Freshman, Tufts University
Guillermo’s first semester is off to a great start. He’s enjoying his child development class, which is what he had in mind for a possible major. But he hasn’t made any solid commitments yet--he's also pre-med. Guillermo hopes to take a creative writing class (his other passion) next semester. He's also starting to tutor at a local elementary school.

Anjie, Sophomore, Barnard College
Our illustrious college student blogger is taking five classes this semester and loves all of them, especially Harlem Renaissance Literature and her urban sociology class. For the sociology course, she's doing a research project on the South Bronx neighborhood. Anjie lives with five other girls in an apartment and continues to blog regularly about college life.

Guillermo, Yvette and Sandra were also able to hear U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan speak at Memorial Church on Harvard’s campus. Duncan received the Robert Coles Award for Service given to Harvard alumni by the Philip Brooks House Association, which fosters community engagement at Harvard. His talk focused on the importance and value of service, as well as President Obama's educational agenda.