Mode of Program Participation
Community Organizing and Educational Programming
Participation Type
Committee Sponsored Session
Session Title
Invisible Fences: The Experiences of First Generation College Students in Appalachia
Session Abstract or Summary
This panel draws upon the conference theme of Extreme Appalachia by addressing systemic issues that create chronic disparities for first generation college students. We explore the “invisible fences” that first generation Appalachian college students and their families face as they navigate a process that is complicated and often alienating. The panelists will begin the conversation by sharing our narratives as first generation Appalachian college students and the challenges we faced when planning for and attending college. Our experiences span the postsecondary spectrum from the undergraduate through doctoral levels. We use our personal narratives to set the stage for understanding both our community based and academic work. Our work speaks broadly to the experiences of first generation college students as we undertake issues associated with the college choice and application processes, the social and cultural barriers students face once they enter college, and what it means to be academically underprepared. We approach the work and conversations through a social-justice, advocacy stance in order to conceptualize how the needs of first generation college students from rural Appalachia can be better supported in preparing for and participating in postsecondary education. After we share our narratives, we invite the audience into dialogue to share about their own experiences and to collaborate on ways that this work may move forward.
Presentation #1 Title
Whose Job Is It? Helping First-Generation Students Apply for College By Bridging Gaps Between Families and High Schools
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
As a first generation college student, I didn’t really have anyone to guide me through the college application process. Everything I knew about applying for college I learned through internet research and a few handouts in school. Now, I work as a college preparation tutor in the capital city of West Virginia. Our company works with students and families to understand the college application process, as well as prepare for college admission through test prep and tutoring. We address common concerns such as, “When do I need to apply?” “What do I need to apply?” “What is the Common Application?” “What is FAFSA?” “What’s the difference between Early Action and Early Decision?” and many more. The guidance counselors in the public school system are often assigned hundreds of seniors, and can’t sit down with all of them to offer much guidance about the process. Most of our students’ parents never went to college, so they don’t know where to start preparing their kids except by pushing them to get good grades. We seek to fill that gap by helping students understand what a successful college experience looks like. We work with families as a whole to make sure that students are looking for and finding a college that’s a good fit for them, not just colleges who will admit them. I look forward to talking about my own experiences, as well as those of my peers and current clients, as part of this panel.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Brittany Means Carowick is a first-generation college student from Charleston, WV. She took the scenic route to her undergraduate degree at Concord University, but hit her stride achieving her Master’s in Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. She currently lives and works in Charleston, WV tutoring students in specific subjects, as well as through the college application process.
Presentation #2 Title
It’s Shocking! Social Class Dissonance and the Struggle for a First Generation College Student to Measure Up
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Like many college freshman, and most Americans, I positioned myself as middleclass. In the rural area where I lived my family was economically and socially similar to others who worked in the plants and coal mines; other than teachers and school administrators, there were few “professionals.” This understanding of middleclass was jarred when I attended a liberal arts college where many of my peers came from families of professionals and had grown up in metropolitan areas. On many levels, I felt uncomfortable and different; sometimes these feelings related to appearance and perceived family income, while many related to experiential differences and values. I felt intimidated by these differences and unprepared to competently participate; rather than chance being “found out,” I preemptively disengaged from the social community. While I was academically well prepared, the social isolation of being from a rural, blue-collar background was difficult to navigate and there were no resources at the school addressing social isolation. As I entered graduate school, struggles with social isolation were replaced by a lack of technical knowledge. Things like understanding how assistantships functioned, how to find a rigorous, compatible doctoral program, and how to engage as a person with authority in an academic setting were mysteries. I often learned how to best navigate unfamiliar situations after the opportunities had passed. I hope that by sharing my story we can create safe spaces for sharing struggles and empowering first generation students to ask questions and build networks that will support them in their work.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Brandi Slider Weekley is a life-long West Virginian who received a BA in Psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a PhD in Education from West Virginia University. She is an independent scholar doing work to support small businesses and non-profits in West Virginia to create sustainable and thriving spaces.
Presentation #3 Title
You’re In, Now What? Navigating Undergraduate and Graduate Education as a First-Generation Scholar
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
As a first generation college student, I endlessly encountered, and continue to encounter, the phenomena of not knowing what I do not know. My parents were supportive emotionally, but did not have the knowledge or financial means to support my education in other ways. As such, I immediately had to become a self-advocate, applying for scholarships and making connections with faculty members who could help me pursue my degree. It was only through professors’ outreach that I was able to earn a fulfilling degree, and I contribute much of that individualized attention to luck; had I lived in a different resident hall or had different first-year professors, my story would be much different.
As a first-year composition instructor at the University of Louisville, I have found myself told to teach facets of the rhetorical situation that I did not learn in the classroom but in a blind panic while tutoring, as I bypassed first-year composition for sophomore level English classes (in which I was woefully underprepared). In the classroom, I find myself more apt to understand how students from lower performing schools misinterpret assignments than what students from higher performing schools are bringing into the classroom.
In a forward-leaning university, I imagine specific resources for first-generation and nontraditional college students, as well as outreach programs with workshops for first-generation specific needs. I hope to be such a resource for first-generation students in my own classrooms, and exposing myself as such is a necessary, yet delicate, part of that process.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Emily Blair, a poet and scholar from Fort Chiswell, Virginia, earned an undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech in Creative Writing and Literature. She is currently pursuing an MA in English at the University of Louisville.
Whose Job Is It? Helping First-Generation Students Apply for College By Bridging Gaps Between Families and High Schools
As a first generation college student, I didn’t really have anyone to guide me through the college application process. Everything I knew about applying for college I learned through internet research and a few handouts in school. Now, I work as a college preparation tutor in the capital city of West Virginia. Our company works with students and families to understand the college application process, as well as prepare for college admission through test prep and tutoring. We address common concerns such as, “When do I need to apply?” “What do I need to apply?” “What is the Common Application?” “What is FAFSA?” “What’s the difference between Early Action and Early Decision?” and many more. The guidance counselors in the public school system are often assigned hundreds of seniors, and can’t sit down with all of them to offer much guidance about the process. Most of our students’ parents never went to college, so they don’t know where to start preparing their kids except by pushing them to get good grades. We seek to fill that gap by helping students understand what a successful college experience looks like. We work with families as a whole to make sure that students are looking for and finding a college that’s a good fit for them, not just colleges who will admit them. I look forward to talking about my own experiences, as well as those of my peers and current clients, as part of this panel.
