Supporting respondents is a priority for their success. While attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Academic Success and Engaged Citizenship has been the main two reasons why I was able to have optimal success thus far. While living in FAR my freshman year, I interacted countless times with not only my immediate floor community, but also communities that were in my area such as PAR. Activities included tea times, solango, movie viewings and open discussions about what we could do to become well-rounded individuals and students. Being engaged in these activities, I was able to understand and engage in conversation with peers to enhance my academic success and evaluate resources that would be available for me utilize around campus
While first-generation college students are over half of all students in postsecondary education, exclusionary practices block their admittance into elite institutions. The outliers who receive admittance to the Ivory Tower may think they have made it—that their American Dream and long-held belief in the meritocratic ethos has finally paid off. Instead, they are confronted with educational stratification and social reproduction that was stacked against them long before they received the piece of parchment granting them access. The onerous task of navigating through unfamiliar academic and social situations often results in leaving. Can first-generation college students learn how to activate, manage, and accumulate social and cultural capital to navigate elite universities?
...contributions to the college and community instead of being single out because they are an easy target.
What are some more ways to aid first-generation students with the challenges faced in college?
I genuinely believe that peer interaction is a vital component in the development of academics as well as character in which I have the skill set and experience to do so. Growing up in a diverse and culturally rich community exposed me to various personalities and constructed me to undergo everything with an open mind. My unique background will expand the boundaries of the Honors Program with the incorporation of my personal experiences. With my strong work ethic and my willingness to explore a vast scope of courses, I can be an integral influencer in peer-to-peer learning environments. My preparation for every course beforehand assures my ability to participate and contribute during each class. I am always on top of my workload which proves that I would be an active student in classroom discussions and have thorough development in my research opportunities. I will be the thermostat in this program by setting the emotional and personal climate and setting examples for other students with a vision that we will all strive for the extra mile inside and out of the classroom. My passion to learn and the dedication I hold to my studies exemplify the type of student needed in this program. I hold the ambition that is needed to be successful in the Honors Program at the University of Georgia.
Next year, as I embark my first year at university, I hope to fully integrate myself into the community by getting involved in the Students' Union, joining the cheer team, volunteering where I can and making many new friends along the way. At university, I hope to maintain a high grade point average, granted that my education is extremely important to me and that I am extremely ambitious about achieving my goals.Therefore, I will commit lots of my time to my studies in hopes of being a successful student. Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to being a part of the community by devoting my extra time to helping those around me. In classes, I intend on being an active learner, a respectful student, and a helpful classmate; someone who is always willing to lend a hand to others. Through engaging in my community, I hope to bring joy to others around me by spending my time supporting local events, volunteering for fundraisers, and helping plan and organize campus activities.
...lege peers, the necessity to work while in college, racial and ethnicity differences, and being a mother can complicate the hardships more. One thing we know that is beneficial for college students is to get engaged on campus. It will help academically, socially, personally, and hopefully in the future economically. However, to create an institutional environment that is fair and equal to all students would be to cater to the needs of all demographics. We have established the first generation students are a new demographic and it is necessary to help the needs of this group of students. Until the system makes it easier for those who want to earn a degree to do so while maintaining other responsibilities, the number of students with some college education, but no degree to show for it, will be a continuing challenge for the higher education industry (Unknown).
The meaning of citizenship as a concept varies significantly for each individual-this meaning is directly influenced by factors such as age, ideological beliefs and socioeconomic class. Due to this difference in perspective it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what citizenship entails concerning the balance between the freedoms that we experience as citizens and the responsibilities that we must each fulfill in order for a democracy to function with stability and efficiency. This has become an issue in modern society as some citizens (particularly those in the millennial cohort) shrug off traditional duty based citizenship norms such as voting in elections, paying income taxes and obeying the law- for more “engaged” forms of participation such
The importance of college student life and involvement as it pertains to student success and retention in college
First of all, while a student at BGSU, I will demonstrate these values by dedicating a significant amount of my time to participating in community service. Personally, I believe that the first step in bettering oneself is bettering one’s environment, therefore it is imperative that I take care of my surroundings. Throughout high school, I have been involved in multiple extracurriculars that involve community service, such as Student Council and the National Honor Society. Through these programs, we clean up trash around the school, donate cans of food to the needy, and promote safety and respect among the students and staff of Lakewood High School. Knowing that the well-being of my school and peers depends on our dedication to the community is an indescribable feeling that I would ultimately love to carry to college with me through my servant leadership in the
In 1998, a study done by the Higher Education Research Institute and the University of California, Los Angeles reported that “30 percent of college undergraduates reported taking a ‘service-learning’ course.” The next year, the percentage of college freshmen who had experience as volunteers jumped all the way up to 75 (Perry 96). Writer Joellen Perry states that between the years of 1984 and 1997, “the number of high schoolers involved in service-learning leapt an astonishing 3,663 percent” (96). This proves that high schools must already know that colleges look at how involved students are in their communities. Therefore, it should not be seen as a necessity to require public service from students before they are allowed to enroll in
In our American government class, we had an great opportunity on participating in the Civic Engagement Project. Each of us can pick up a topic that we are interested in, and joined the activity offered from the agency that is related to our topic. I participated in RAINN Day activity which was lead by Women’s leadership Project under the Center of Civic Engagement. Attending in this activity helped me to understand more about what RAINN Day is, and learned more about the sexual violence on collage campus. The RAINN Day activity which was hold this year was to call on attention of college students to protect themselves from the sexual violence on campus.
Many institutions made civic learning a high priority in the undergraduate education goals and start to begin systematic assessment of the influence of their educational opportunities. There are also significant of scholarship using student surveys on college campuses, evidence on how campuses have an influence at various stages of a students’ career.
My ultimate goal in life is to help support these students because they are underrepresented minorities, whose parents have never gone to college or do not even know what exactly is college. My students, mentees, and I have struggled to find a support system in the school. I refuse to let future generations of students to undergo the same struggle in search of a support group in an academic setting due to their background. I want to encourage underrepresented students of minority backgrounds from my community to pursue higher education by finding ways for them to flourish. My students and mentees can possibly be future first generation undergraduate college students with encouragement and a support group; I intend to be a part of that support group. I want to help them comprehend that despite of their background, they can participate in college preparatory program(s). I want to help them see that there are ways to overcome the obstacles they have
Raising community awareness to students will teach them the importance of being involved in the community. Students being able to give back to the community will prepare them for their journey to being a positive role model or servant leader.
Citizenship education has become a keystone of democratic governments such as those found in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Other forms of state government (autocracies, oligarchies, monarchies, theocracies, et al.) impose limitations on the rights of its citizens, so therefore the majority of their population will never need to learn what it takes to actually participate in government, and they just learn to follow the mandated laws or else face the consequences. The ability to actively function in a democratic society is not instinctual; it is in fact a learned skill. In her research, L. Alison Molina-Giron (2016) describes how the study of citizenship has become fundamental to democracies because “citizenship education must prepare youngsters to [actively participate]… in their nation’s civic and political life. Indeed, democracy not only