VIDEO: First-generation students find a place to belong
MSU Denver is meeting the unique needs of those who are among the first generation in their families to attend college.
Adam Nakamura describes himself as having a troubled past. After serving over six years in federal prison, he decided it was time for a change. He enrolled at Metropolitan State University of Denver, but he quickly realized that as a first-generation student from a nontraditional background, he would need some additional support to succeed.
“I didn’t know how to study; I didn’t know how to take notes,” Nakamura said. “I had to learn how I learn.”
Nakamura is among nearly 10,000 undergraduate students at MSU Denver who identify as first generation. With the help of his instructors and fellow students, he found the support he needed through the University’s TRIO Student Support Services and the HOPES Program, which offer access to important resources and mentorship aimed at helping nontraditional students navigate the college experience.
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“It’s important for us to make sure that our students know that there is support, that there is a community of faculty and staff members who are there to support (first-generation students), and our office really is dedicated to supporting the needs of our first-generation students,” said Nahum Kiser, assistant vice president of Student Success at MSU Denver.
Like Nakamura, Social Work student Alyson Doty didn’t know where to start. Also a first-generation student, she struggled with finding scholarships and understanding the “hidden curriculum” or academic jargon that might not be familiar to students whose parents didn’t attend college.
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“We all belong here just as much as a student who has had family that goes to college and has a degree already,” Doty said.
Through MSU Denver’s Student Success Services and First-Generation Initiatives, she discovered scholarships and financial resources, she said, as well as a community of other first-generation students.
“This is the college life that I was looking for,” she said.
