Helping turn dreams into reality

Delina Phomphengchane: I'm Delina Phomphengchane, and I'm first.

Mustafa Ilgin: I'm Mustafa Ilgin, and I'm first.

Dr. Catherine Montalto: Catherine Montalto, I'm first.

Ivory Levert: My name is Ivory Levert, and I'm first.

Mustafa Ilgin (Political Science major): Being a first-generation college student is all about getting to experience opportunities that no one else in your family has, and it's about kind of taking that next step and doing something that is completely foreign to you and just taking that experience and really getting to use it to the best of your abilities.

Ivory Levert: (Program Manager, Peer Access Line (PAL)) Being first-generation to me means being a trailblazer, being the first one to set the path, to kind of set the stage. And while that is very exciting to be the one to kind of take initiative and be innovative and really just kind of have your own way, it can also be overwhelming. So it's important to kind of find that balance between what that means for you.

Dr. Catherine Montalto (Director of First Year Experience): That opportunity to attend college really opened a door to learning about incredible things about this wonderful world that we live in, and it was an opportunity to engage in discovery. It was an opportunity to be involved in identifying problems and identifying solutions to problems, always with that eye towards, how can I contribute to our community? How can I contribute to the world? How can I help to make a difference?

Delina Phomphengchane (Strategic Communications major): It kind of gives us a different drive. We have a lot of resilience, so when we succeed, it's something that we feel proud of because no one else has ever done it in our family. But when we fail, it means we come back even stronger because we have to go where we want to be. You know, we have to make it to that place of success that we have been working so hard for, not only for ourselves, but for our family.

Sly Worthy: My name is Sly Worthy, and I'm first.

Ruth Zen: I'm Ruth Zen, and I'm first.

Dr. Chila Thomas: Dr. Chila Thomas, I'm first.

Kendra White: I'm Kendra White, I'm first.

Dr. David Graham: My name is David Graham, and I'm first.

Ruth Zen (Pharmacy major): I'm proud to be first generation because I get to carry out the dreams and opportunities my parents have given me.

Dr. Chila Thomas (Executive Director of the Young Scholars Program): What does first generation mean to me? It means changing the trajectory of my family. It means setting an example and showing my family that it's possible. It means showing students who are here on campus that it's possible, regardless of my background. I defy the odds. Together, not only can we be a success story on this campus, but that we can thrive at institutions of higher education.

Kendra White (Psychology major): I take everything I learned from OSU back home to all the first generation kids in my town and explain it to them and my family about how I'm first gen and what comes with that.

Dr. David Graham (Assistant Vice Provost for Student Academic Success): Being first gen means having a strong appreciation for the ancestry, your ancestry, for the people that paved the way to you being able to have opportunities that you have today. I'm standing on the shoulders of people that came before me to make this opportunity possible. So it's my responsibility to help someone stand on my shoulders moving forward.

Sly Worthy (Social Work and African American and African Studies major): I am defying the odds and being the gatekeeper from my community and my family to higher education and all the opportunities it has to offer.

Maddie Allman: My name is Maddie Allman, and I'm first.

Angel Bautista: I'm Angel Bautista, and I'm first.

Mackenzie Leatherman: I'm Mackenzie Leatherman, I'm first.

Angie Wellman: I'm Angie Wellman, and I'm first.

Vianka Vega: My name is Vianka Vega, and I'm first.

Maddie Allman (Community Leadership: Community & Extension Education major): What makes me proud to be first gen is being able to be so independent in myself. I like knowing that I can, you know, like I can do this even though I don't have as much support and like have as much security as a lot of other people here on campus do. And I guess just like it makes me feel really comfortable in myself, I think. It makes me feel really confident in myself knowing that it's something, it's a strength, not a weakness.

Mackenzie Leatherman (Social Work major): I'm kind of taking charge of this new opportunity that I have that my parents didn't. As a military kid and watching my parents live out their careers, really long careers, just within the military alone without going to college, means that this is all a really new experience for me. And navigating that and seeing where I'm going and just knowing that I have the world to look forward to outside of that is really cool.

Angel Bautista (Architecture major): It means that like I'm being like my own person. A lot of my life I've always wanted to be like away from like the standard. Back home everyone's like, oh you finish high school, go get a job, start a family and all that other stuff. Me, so I just wanted to be like my own thing and make like a whole new path that wasn't really there for me before.

Vianka Vega (Athletic Training major): My parents did not get to finish high school, so I was the first to finish high school and go to college and I can pass that knowledge on to my brothers and sisters. So it's just a helpful tool for family members in my generation.

Angie Wellman (Associate Director, Student Life Multicultural Center): I think that being first generation is a strength because it provides an opportunity to showcase both resilience and resourcefulness and also just the straight-up opportunity to become who you want to be in any kind of way that might mean for you.