Colgate University just wrapped up its First-Generation Celebration Week, an event that was made possible through the help of many passionate and dedicated individuals. Senior Anthony Garcia, an education major, is one of those people.
Garcia serves as the program assistant of First@Colgate, the Colgate program that provides information and assistance to first-generation students. He helped set up all the events and made sure first-generation students were given a chance to be celebrated and connect with each other.
This has been a long time coming for Garcia, a first-generation student who has long been involved on campus and was introduced to First@Colgate his first year at Colgate University.
“I am a first-generation college student, so First@Colgate was very important as I started college,” Garcia said. “When you’re a first-generation student, you don’t have a private mentor or parent to tell you about college. No one tells you how to do certain things like course registration or office hours. First@Colgate is able to counsel first-generation students through all sorts of academic, social and professional training.”
Like some other students who participate in First@Colgate, Garcia came to Colgate through the QuestBridge Program. After receiving help from First@Colgate during orientation and throughout the beginning of his first year, Garcia became more involved with other groups on campus, including The Brothers of Colgate (Brothers), an organization that unites men of color across campus.
“I matched with Colgate through QuestBridge, so I do a lot of stuff relating to that. Brothers has also been a big part of my time here. Both of these organizations collaborate with First@Colgate a lot, as all of them are concerned with [first-gen visibility] and connecting underrepresented communities,” Garcia said.
Although Brothers and the Questbridge program have been Garcia’s main focuses on campus for the past few years, he adopted a new role when he was brought back to First@Colgate via his position as a program assistant.
“I just got this job at the beginning of the semester,” Garcia said. “It’s sort of like a full circle moment reconnecting with First@Colgate as a senior because they helped me so much when I was a freshman. It’s my way of giving back.”
As a program assistant, Garcia has been involved with lots of planning to make First-Gen Celebration Week a success.
“A lot of what I do is coordinating with faculty and staff and different student-run clubs to host events. I make flyers to promote the events and help plan them,” Garcia said. “[I also make] first-generation students feel welcome. I’ll sit in the office and all day students will just come in to talk. I make them feel welcome because I remember how I felt when I was a freshman.”
First-Gen Celebration Week began Nov.1 and ended Nov. 8, the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Garcia explained the importance of this timing.
“The Higher Education Act was meant to promote educational access for marginalized groups. First-Gen Celebration Week is so important because First@Colgate is the hub for first-generation students here. It connects first-generation students with different communities and resources at this school. In a lot of ways, higher education is not meant to cater to under-resourced backgrounds, so the week is an opportunity to highlight all they do. We want to acknowledge them and their unique experiences, and help them continue to feel connected here,” Garcia said.
That has been exactly what Garcia has done throughout his time at Colgate. Thanks to the planning of various events like study sessions, dances with different dance groups and a pregame mixer for a basketball game, Garcia has been able to serve as the mentor that many first-generation students are looking for.
