Skip to main content

First Generation Student Celebration

National First Generation Day is observed on November 8th to celebrate the achievements of students, faculty, and staff who are the first in their families to attend college. The date commemorates the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which expanded educational opportunities for low-income and first-generation students. The day is also known as National First-Generation College Celebration Day and was initiated in 2017 by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE).

Every year, the Academic Foundations Center along with campus partners design a celebration to honor all of the first generation students, faculty, and staff on the campus.

Our goal is to help all our first generation students across campus:

  • Understand the power of sharing and leveraging their first generation student experience
  • Build community with other first gen peers, faculty, and staff
  • Connect first gen students with a variety of resources and services to help students achieve their goals

First generation students, please feel free to utilize the student guides on the right of this page at any time.

We hope to see you at our celebration this year!