{"id":38700,"date":"2021-11-05T11:32:02","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=38700"},"modified":"2021-11-10T17:21:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T22:21:34","slug":"first-gen-week-celebrates-students-unique-life-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/first-gen-week-celebrates-students-unique-life-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"First Gen Week celebrates students&#8217; unique life stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"791\" data-attachment-id=\"38707\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/first-gen-week-celebrates-students-unique-life-stories\/first-gen-mentor-21\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1200,791\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Angela Foster&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON Z 6&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Tobias Headrick, Katie Crutchfield and Shyanne Machotka stand Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 in front of the library.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1635951274&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;160&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;First Gen Mentor-21-&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"First Gen Mentor-21-\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Tobias Headrick, Katie Crutchfield and Shyanne Machotka stand Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 in front of the library.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-1024x675.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-38707 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"style=\"max-width: 100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-1024x675.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-580x382.jpg 580w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-610x402.jpg 610w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-250x165.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/First-Gen-Mentor-21-09-600x396.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><br \/>\nTobias Headrick, Katie Crutchfield and Shyanne Machotka, from left, are the first members of their families to enroll in college.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"well span3 pull-right\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"432\" height=\"234\" data-attachment-id=\"38712\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/first-gen-week-celebrates-students-unique-life-stories\/genweek\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"432,234\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"genweek\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek.jpg\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-38712\" src=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"style=\"max-width: 100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek.jpg 432w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/11\/genweek-250x135.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px\" \/>Now in its third year, First Gen Week has daily events from Monday, Nov. 8, to Sunday, Nov. 14, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kickoff, 3 p.m. Monday, at the top of Cardiac Hill.<\/li>\n<li>Debut of 2021 Faces of First Gen display of photos of students, faculty and staff who identify as first-generation college students and graduates, 4 p.m. Monday, Guerry Center.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI Belong\u201d Breakfast, Tuesday, Pfeiffer Hall.<\/li>\n<li>A Wellness First: Holistic Health Fair, Thursday, Chamberlain Pavilion.<\/li>\n<li>Networking reception with community leaders, faculty and staff, Friday, Patten House.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The complete First Gen Week programming list can be found by clicking on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/enrollment-management-and-student-affairs\/student-success-programs\/first-gen-mocs\/first-gen-week\">the event\u2019s web page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Their stories of what it\u2019s like to be navigating campus might be similar, but every first-generation college student\u2019s journey is different.<\/p>\n<p>First-generation students come from all walks of life. Some are from more vulnerable communities. They are of many racial, ethnic and religious origins. There are international students and those who don\u2019t fit the traditional student mold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe encompass all of that,\u201d said Katie Crutchfield, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior majoring in psychology. \u201cIf you\u2019re a first-generation student, you\u2019re a first-generation student, no matter where you came from or how you got here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>National First-Generation College Celebration Day takes place Monday and honors the anniversary of the signing of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, which strengthened the educational resources of colleges and universities to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education. The Council for Opportunity in Education and the Center for First-Generation Student Success launched the inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/firstgen.naspa.org\/engagement\/first-generation-college-celebration\/first-generation-college-celebration\">First-Generation College Celebration<\/a> in 2017, which has developed into an annual event across the country.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, UTC Director of Student Success Programs Crystal Edenfield took that celebration a step further, creating First Gen Week\u2014a series of programming recognizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/enrollment-management-and-student-affairs\/student-success-programs\/first-gen-mocs\">first-generation UTC students<\/a> who are the first in their families to pursue college degrees.<\/p>\n<p>More than 2,000 current UTC undergraduates self-identify as first-generation college students, including 550 fall 2021 freshmen, according to the University\u2019s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Institutional Research (OPEIR). People of color account for 32% of first-generation students.<\/p>\n<p>OPEIR research also showed that, in the last three years, UTC awarded more than 1,300 bachelor\u2019s degrees to first-generation college students from 65 Tennessee counties and 13 other states.<\/p>\n<p>Crutchfield is on a path to join that list next spring. A native of Greenbrier, Tennessee, a town north of Nashville with a population roughly half of the size of the UTC student body, she calls her first-generation story \u201ca little bit complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeither of my parents actually got a high school education,\u201d Crutchfield explained. \u201cI was then adopted when I was 13, and neither of my adoptive parents went to college, either. So lots of no higher education anywhere, but lots of encouragement to do it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was pushed to go to school, but nobody really knew what that looked like. They were like, \u2018Go get a bachelor\u2019s. Everybody needs a bachelor\u2019s.\u2019 I want to be a counselor and I knew I needed to go get a degree, but nobody knew what that looked like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crutchfield didn\u2019t know that first-generation programming \u201cwas a thing\u201d when she arrived at UTC. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize I was a first-generation student when I got here. I just thought you went to college or you didn\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As she researched resources in navigating her first-year experience, she stumbled upon the first-generation page on the UTC website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI immediately reached out to Dr. Edenfield and asked, \u2018How do I become a part of this? Can I be a mentee? Can I be a mentor? Can I live in the residential learning community? Can I do all that?\u2019 I wanted to be a part of a group of people who kind of knew what it was not to know anything,\u201d Crutchfield said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went headfirst into it. I started and I haven\u2019t stopped. I\u2019m a first-gen mentor. I live in our first-generation residential learning community. I\u2019m all in. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two of her mentees this fall are freshmen Tobias Headrick and Shyanne Machotka.<\/p>\n<p>Headrick was not planning on attending college until junior year in high school. \u201cThen I got stuck in a statewide dual credit class; I was the only one who passed the exam. I got a college credit and I thought, \u2018Wow, maybe I can do college.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Headrick said being mentored by Crutchfield has been \u201cReally nice. It makes me feel less alone in a process that can make you feel like you\u2019re drowning sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Machotka said her father and brother went to trade schools, opting for hands-on work over bookwork. Her mother got sick and had to balance that with working and raising children; she didn\u2019t go the college route, either.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was always more the academic type,\u201d Machotka said, \u201cand I enjoyed reading and learning. College was something I always knew I was going to do. I knew I was going to be the first one in my family to go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First-generation students face the same struggles as other students, sometimes exacerbated by a feeling that they\u2019re blazing a new trail on their own.<\/p>\n<p>Machotka immediately realized she had someone she could turn to in Crutchfield.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving her around has been pretty great,\u201d Machotka said of her mentor. \u201cHonestly, I talk to her about everything, even if it\u2019s complaining my head off. If there\u2019s an event and I don\u2019t know who to sit by or talk to, she\u2019s always there. She is someone who has your back no matter what and who\u2019s going to talk you through everything that you\u2019re confused about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crutchfield said First Gen Week programming highlights a group of students who may not get recognition for all they bring to UTC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst Gen Week events, mixers, the kickoff, the breakfasts; everybody can come and hang out with other first-gen students, and it is so important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, this is something to be celebrated, and having the University recognize that is pretty much saying, \u2018You\u2019re welcome here. You worked hard to get here. You deserve to be here just like everybody else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First-generation students come from different backgrounds, countries, religions and ethnicities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/first-gen-week-celebrates-students-unique-life-stories\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":38714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,661],"tags":[119085,119086],"class_list":{"0":"post-38700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-students","9":"tag-first-gen-week","10":"tag-student-success-programs","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Gen Week celebrates students&#039; 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