Today as I was walking on campus I came across one of my friends who is also a first generation college student. My friend is a junior and I am a senior. It just happens to be that today there was a planning conference going on for sophomores to help them plan the remainder of their time as undergrads. My friend and I began talking about the conference and that led to him asking me if I knew what I was going to do after graduation. I explained to him that I recently accepted a job offer and will be in Boston. He then started to tell me all about his internship experience over the summer. During our conversation he said something along the lines of “you know us First Generation College students have to take advantage of our time here. We cannot be like the other students who do not plan ahead or make the most of their time here”. Without any thought process I agreed. I told him that since the moment I step foot on campus I was thinking about my long term goals and what I had to do in the next couple of years in order to get there.
This conversation made me question if first generation college students value college more than students who are not the first in their families to attend college. I must admit all of my peers in college who are first generation college students are extremely ambitious, hardworking and driven. If you compare all of us that might be the only thing that we all have in common. To be completely honest, I think that is why I gravitate towards them. I admire and value hard work and I like to be surrounded by people who value these characteristics. I would also describe myself as being extremely hard working. Giving up is never an option for me. I do not look for shortcuts. I do whatever it is I need to do in order to get things done. With that said, I do not know if being hardworking is a characteristic that all first generation college students hold, but I cannot ignore the fact that is one characteristic that I have observed in all my first generation peers.