By Kirsten Kirtley, Student Reporter
Northwestern is celebrating those who are doing something for the first time in their family: going to college.
Northwestern students said they plan to attend the annual First Generation College Student Day Celebration on Thursday. The event takes place every November and is put on to support first-generation students by allowing them to share positive experiences and relate to one another.
The event is being sponsored by Student Services. The celebration will take place in the mall area near the J.W. Martin Library from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Food trucks will be set up at the west end of the horseshoe parking lot.
Yarely Aguilar is a sophomore accounting major and the administrative assistant for Student Support Services. She is the founder and president of the First Gen Club, and said she created the club for others.
“I created First Gen Club as another outlet for first-generation students to have,” Aguilar said. “I think as a first-generation student, it’s very important to have a support system that you can go to and depend on.”
Aguilar, who is interested in becoming a finance professor, said understanding college applications and filling them out properly was one of the challenges of being a first-generation student.
Mikayla Webb is a freshman early childhood education major and the social media manager of the First Gen Club. She said she decided to attend college so that she could become a teacher and have an impact on students’ lives in a way that helps them love learning.
Webb said trying to find a way to pay for college, getting involved on campus and finding people to go to for resources were some of the struggles she had because none of her family members went to college.
“I’ve made so many friendships that will last a lifetime,” Webb said.
The First Gen Club’s Instagram page is titled “nwosu_first_gen”, and the mission statement of the page is “Uniting first generation college students and empowering them to achieve their educational goals.”
McKenzie Mashak, a freshman early childhood education major, said she wanted to get a quality education, achieve her goal of becoming a teacher and help students understand the importance of college.
Another outlet for first-generation students is the Northwestern Student Support Services, which helps first-generation college students during their college career by providing support with the goal of seeing students graduate and succeed in college and life according to program leaders.