Here’s Your First-Gen Scholarship and Financial Aid To-Do List

This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org. When I started getting college acceptance letters, I couldn’t contain my excitement. The hours and hours I’d spent on applications were finally paying off!...

Giving My Best Effort For My Biggest Fans

This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org. I have always been fond of sports analogies because of how accurate they are. In sports, as in life, everyone has their big supporter or (as my parents affectionately refer...

How to NOT Handle Finals Week: Lessons from a First-Gen

This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org. With finals, papers and a litany of other assignments due just around the corner, it’s almost unreal just how fast this first semester of college has flown by. And, at...

How I Was Shaped By the Challenges of Being a First-Generation Student

This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org. Considering what it means to be a first-generation college student transports me instantly to my childhood home in the South Side of Chicago, to the moment when my father...

My Adventures as a First-Generation College Student

This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org. I remember it like it was yesterday: my father had an open-heart surgery when I was just 12 years young. Right then and there, I knew my life had changed and there was no...