Personal Experiences
Carlos Gomez
As a first generation college student I have come across a lot of obstacles through my educational career. It is hard trying to learn from professors who are only at the university doing research, and they care more about the research than the students. As a first generation college student, firs tone to leave the household, first time being away from your parents, and first time experiencing discrimination is tough. There are many obstacles we have to face because we leave home and forget about the problems from back home for a while, but then you go back home and the problems are still there and you cannot do anything to fix them yet because you are barely helping yourself. It is hard seeing the community you come from deteriorate while you see the the complete opposite every time you go back to school. Then you begin to ask yourself all these questions on why that is the case. You begin to realize that money creates boundaries. Then you realize that when you have people with money living in your community, it becomes more appealing. But why cannot this be the case in every single community regardless of money because isn't money ultimately debt, a worthless piece of paper that is in complete control of the bankers in charge of the federal reserve. You begin to take classes that expand your knowledge and it makes you question everything, but nothing and this is a conflict that many of you will face if you ask questions. When you come to college you cannot be a sheep and do things just because, take the time to sit down and ask why? College is not just about school, you have to come here and learn what it is like to deal with people and learn to work with people who have a perception of you the moment they see you. When you walk around and people look at you funny because you are authentic it hurts, but you have to keep moving with your head held high. At the same time, you are trying to deal with a whole new system. A system that requires you to master an entire course in the time span of 10 weeks. So fast paced that when you least expect it you have a midterm right around the corner. Then you are forced to teach yourself because some professors are there to do research and not teach you or many times these professors have no teaching experience and try to teach a big lecture from, but they cannot. I have faced a challenge with my professors because so far I have been teaching myself with the exception of a few.
Delia Sandoval
I come from a violent community that falls under the stereotype of every young female will get pregnant and every male will eventually give in to joining a gang. The disbelief those who do not live in my community have towards the success of any individual inhabiting in it is what sparks my hunger for success, my hunger to prove them wrong. Coming from such a community and moving to Davis was such a huge transition for me not only on an academic level, but also on a personal level. Davis is a whole different environment than Inglewood and South Central Los Angeles. Davis is not ghetto in any way and is not surrounded by a vast amount of violence and gangs. In my community, first generation students are not expected to succeed in any way, they are looked down on because of this. They are not expected to graduate high school as it is. They are expected to live off of a minimum wage job or drown themselves in addiction and failure. Very few are able to make it out of a community like this, it takes a lot to be able to overcome every obstacle that is being thrown at you and not fall into the wraths of gangs and failure. I, as a first generation college student, feel intimidated by the middle or higher class. Typically, in low income cities or communities the schools that educated my peers and I lacked the sufficient resources to be able to provide us with a good education. We had to be satisfied and make a good education with the bare minimum. Once we attend a university we feel intimidated by those who come from private schools because they possess a great amount of knowledge on topics that may be new to us. They come off as intelligent and intimidating right off the bat because we do not know what they know, so we feel like we are less. We have to put in more work than them because we need to learn other concepts on top of the ones that are being taught to us. Aside from being at an academic disadvantage, we also face a social disadvantage because we are used to being around people that are "like us." In our home communities, we are not exposed to as much diversity than we are in a university. It is difficult being able to communicate with those of different origins than us because we are afraid of being judged. I personally feel afraid of interacting with those who are not like me because I feel like they judge how I am based on my looks. It is hard walking around the streets Davis because I am often stared at as if it is weird seeing someone like me here. Overall, I face many hardships not only at home, but in Davis as well because of the way everything is formatted academically and the social interactions that I am put in. With time it has gotten easier, but I know that there will be more to face. It is important to always remember who you are and why you are where you are and all of the hard work that you put into it. In the end, all of your hard work will indeed pay off.
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