An estimated 30 percent of Drexel’s full-time undergraduate students are the first in their families to go to a four-year college, but it’s not always easy for first-generation students to tell who else is experiencing the same pressures.
That’s why Drexel has launched First Forward. The program is designed to connect undergraduate and graduate students with each other and with faculty and staff who have had similar experiences, who can serve as mentors or guides.
“It’s really helpful for students to hear that people they see every day are similar to them in regard to some of the challenges that first-generation students face,” says Tasha Gardner, director of the Center for Learning and Academic Success Services.
First Forward also works to make students aware of resources on campus that are in place to help them achieve their goals. The program sponsors occasional meet-and-greet mixers and lunch-and-learn events to help student progress.
Going forward, the program is working on a website and hopes to become a recognized partner of I’m First, a national organization that hosts an online community for first-generation college students.