{"id":12229,"date":"2024-11-07T19:23:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T19:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/07\/first-generation-students-advocate-for-one-another\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T15:31:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T19:31:21","slug":"first-generation-students-advocate-for-one-another","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/07\/first-generation-students-advocate-for-one-another\/","title":{"rendered":"First-generation students advocate for one another"},"content":{"rendered":"\n            \n            <p class=\"intro news-subhead\">Student-led groups offer social and academic support<\/p>\n            <html><body>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Temera De Groot &rsquo;25 and Jennifer Krulisz-Hossain &rsquo;25, MPA &rsquo;26.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote right\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">&ldquo;If you look, there&#8217;s always somebody who&rsquo;s willing to help you.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">-Jennifer Krulisz-Hossain &rsquo;25, MPA &rsquo;26<\/p>\n<p><cite><\/cite>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<style>\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote,\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote p,\r\n  .content > .pullquote cite {\r\n    font-style: normal;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote.tint {\r\n    background-color: #eaeaea;\r\n    border: 0;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote p {\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote::before {\r\n    display: none;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > .pullquote cite {\r\n    display: block;\r\n    font-size: .75em;\r\n    font-weight: normal;\r\n    text-align: right;\r\n  }\r\n  @media all and (min-width: 650px) {\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.left,\r\n    .content > blockquote.pullquote.right {\r\n      \tclear: both;\r\n\t    max-width: 50%;\r\n      \ttext-align: left;\r\n\t}\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.left {\r\n      float: left;\r\n      margin: 10px 40px 40px 0;\r\n    }\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.right {\r\n      float: right;\r\n      margin: 10px 0 40px 40px;\r\n    }\r\n  }\r\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Krulisz-Hossain &rsquo;25, MPA &rsquo;26, and Temera De Groot &rsquo;25 have created opportunities on campus for first-generation students like themselves to gather for social and academic fellowship and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Groot and a group of fellow first-gen students last year started the <a href=\"https:\/\/engage.clarku.edu\/organization\/fsa\">First-Generation Student Association (FSA)<\/a>, the majority of whom participated alongside her in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/identity\/pre-orientation-programs\/connections-clark\/\">Connections@Clark<\/a>, a program that offers leadership- and community-building opportunities for students of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;When I came to college, I was a little confused with the financial aspect, the academic aspect, the social aspect of college,&rdquo; De Groot says. &ldquo;It&#8217;s nice knowing that my group might help a student out there find their footing early on.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Groot, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/programs\/majors-minors\/international-development-and-social-change\/\">international development<\/a> major, plans to attend law school after graduation and pursue a career in immigration law. She noted the importance of mentors in her life, recalling how she was inspired in high school by a mentor who was a lawyer and who had been a first-generation student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;The legal field is not built for people that have backgrounds like me, and that&#8217;s just the reality of it,&rdquo; De Groot says. &ldquo;Entering that field makes me someone who can serve as a resource for these people.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fall of 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/identity\/identity-based-support\/affinity-spaces\/\">1Gen<\/a>, a student affinity group hosted through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/identity\/\">Office of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access (ISEA)<\/a>, became staff-supported and recognized. Krulisz-Hossain was named the facilitator, acting as a liaison between the program and ISEA, and assisting with programming and administration for the group. She echoes De Groot&rsquo;s sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s okay to acknowledge that your journey wasn&rsquo;t the same as other students. We have to work harder in the sense that we might not have had the same resources available to us,&rdquo; Krulisz-Hossain says. Referring to 1Gen and FSA, she adds, &ldquo;If you look, there&#8217;s always somebody who&rsquo;s willing to help you.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/programs\/majors-minors\/major-in-marketing\/\">marketing<\/a> major describes entering college as a first-generation student, but not fully knowing what that meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;My friends and I had always struggled together in high school, so I thought that was just the norm,&rdquo; Krulisz-Hossain says. &ldquo;Coming into college, I learned that that wasn&#8217;t the norm, and that people have resources, whereas I hadn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote right\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">&ldquo;It&#8217;s nice knowing that my group might help a student out there find their footing early on.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">-Temera De Groot &rsquo;25<\/p>\n<p><cite><\/cite>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<style>\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote,\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote p,\r\n  .content > .pullquote cite {\r\n    font-style: normal;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote.tint {\r\n    background-color: #eaeaea;\r\n    border: 0;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote p {\r\n  }\r\n  .content > blockquote.pullquote::before {\r\n    display: none;\r\n  }\r\n  .content > .pullquote cite {\r\n    display: block;\r\n    font-size: .75em;\r\n    font-weight: normal;\r\n    text-align: right;\r\n  }\r\n  @media all and (min-width: 650px) {\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.left,\r\n    .content > blockquote.pullquote.right {\r\n      \tclear: both;\r\n\t    max-width: 50%;\r\n      \ttext-align: left;\r\n\t}\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.left {\r\n      float: left;\r\n      margin: 10px 40px 40px 0;\r\n    }\r\n\t.content > blockquote.pullquote.right {\r\n      float: right;\r\n      margin: 10px 0 40px 40px;\r\n    }\r\n  }\r\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;1Gen became both a project and a passion. I really value this space of people coming together to share experiences.&rdquo; Once she completes her master&rsquo;s degree, Krulisz-Hossain aims to work in the area of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1Gen and FSA fill different niches on campus. 1Gen, which meets monthly, offers a space for first-generation students to nurture belonging and community while also providing educational resources, such as workshops and seminars. FSA, while also offering a social space, is focused on fostering professional development skills. The group meets bimonthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;The intersection of 1Gen and FSA helps create a groundwork for students so that they don&rsquo;t have to struggle the way [Krulisz-Hossain] and I have,&rdquo; De Groot says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Groot emphasized that FSA is open to students in the Worcester community as part of an extended plan to provide resources to first-generation students while they are still in high school to give them their best shot at college-level success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Krulisz-Hossain and De Groot both plan to continue advocating for the interests and success of first-generation students even after they&rsquo;ve left Clark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;I&#8217;ve seen the impact of these conversations on students,&rdquo; Krulisz-Hossain says. &ldquo;Having the conversations at any age is a good starting point for them to feel seen and heard.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Clark&#8217;s 4th Annual First-Gen Luncheon will be held Friday, Nov. 8, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Grace Conference Room. The event will celebrate and uplift the voices of first-gen students, faculty, staff, and alumni and create opportunities to share their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Student-led groups offer social and academic support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12230,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":12230,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223],"displayed_author":[228],"featured":[],"topic":[253,148,114,119,120,121],"class_list":["post-12229","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","displayed_author-abbie-hart-25","topic-campus","topic-community","topic-diversity-and-inclusion","topic-student-life","topic-student-projects","topic-undergraduate-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - 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