“I’m First”
Resources for first-generation students at Ohio State
By Madison Lasso
“I was a lucky first-gen student,” Sly Worthy Jr., a Young Scholar said.
The Young Scholars Program is for pre-college first-generation students who are pursuing higher education. “They made sure that I had a success coach, an academic success partner, we met with career services, we went to career fairs,” Worthy said.
Not every first-generation college student is lucky enough to be chosen as a Young Scholar, which is how Buckeyes First, a student organization for first-generation students, began. The goal of Buckeyes First is to “support, serve, and provide a space for first-generation college students,” Worthy, president and founder of Buckeyes First, said.
Worthy started the student organization this semester to provide the resources and support he received from the Young Scholars Program to other first-generation students.
Buckeyes First offers a number of events focused on the FAFSA, study skills, discussions on intersectionality, and socials for students to decompress, Worthy said. Worthy’s vision for the club is to create a community of first-gen students who will help each other make the college transition easier.
“First-gen is an identity, you can’t look at somebody and see that they’re first-gen, so this [Buckeyes First] is one way we can be visible so we can advocate on our own behalf,” Worthy said.
The club’s cornerstone event is the National First-Generation College Celebration, held on Nov. 8, Worthy said. The event was held at the Multicultural Center in the Student Union in which several faculty members and students spoke about what it means to be first-gen and their experiences, Worthy said.
The Buckeyes First student organization is an extension of the Buckeyes First early arrival program hosted by the First Year Experience (FYE) department. Participating students arrive to campus a week before classes start, learn how to navigate campus and get their college transition questions answered, Cathy Montalto, director of FYE said.
The early arrival program focuses on “how can we [FYE] normalize for students that everyone goes through a transition when you go to college, but are there special ways a first-generation student might experience that transition.” Montalto said.
FYE invites faculty and staff who share the first-generation identity to the early arrival program to meet the students. Montalto said they call this the “First-Gen Ally List,” and is comprised of 120–130 faculty and staff who are passionate about supporting first-generation students.
Students who go through the early arrival program are given a peer leader who will then keep in touch with them throughout their first year, Montalto said.
Peer leaders send weekly or monthly emails to their students inviting them to study tables or fun events on campus, former peer leader Emily Derikito said.
“Being a peer leader put me in contact with so many people on campus: the 250 students I met, the other peer leaders, my supervisors, the amazing FYE staff,” Derikito said
“I wish I would’ve asked for help more,” Derikito said when discussing her first year at Ohio State.
Montalto said the early arrival focuses on giving students the resources they need to be successful and normalizing the use of these resources. In college, we don’t expect that you do everything on your own, Montalto said.
Resources for first-generation students is “definitely something Ohio State could grow on, but there’s a bright future now that they’re recognizing it in a big way,” Derikito said.
