![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2017\/06\/web-160823_Bobcats_First_Academic_Planning_0161.jpg\")
<\/a>Members of the Class of 2020 get acquainted during an academic-planning session in August 2016 as part of the Bobcat First! program. The college’s record of supporting student success garnered an invitation to the American Talent Initiative, an effort to expand college access for low-to-moderate-income students. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n
This first-generation leap forward comes with some distinctive experiences. Equipping first-gen students to encounter those experiences is the Bates initiative Bobcat First!<\/a>, now in its third year. The program builds community and a sense of belonging for first-gens, and enriches their understanding of the (often unspoken) rules for navigating college.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no one in our families to talk with us about their college experiences.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bobcat First!<\/a> provides practical know-how, networking support, and, crucially, a certain sense of identity and self-confidence \u2014 all designed to promote participants\u2019 success at Bates and beyond. Nationally, degree attainment for first-gen students tends to lag behind continuing-generation students. (Over a six-year average, 4 percent fewer first-gens in the cohorts starting at Bates from 2007 to 2010 attained a degree than continuing-generation students.)<\/p>\n \u201cFirst-generation students don\u2019t have the same resources as students whose parents have college degrees,\u201d says Nina Flores \u201920 of Floresville, Texas. One of 30 B1st participants in 2016, Flores is now a peer mentor in the program.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no one in our families to talk with us about their college experiences,\u201d she explains. That means, among other things, that academic customs, procedures, and jargon can come as a complete surprise to the first-gen student.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd often we come from school systems that leave us less prepared for college courses,\u201d Flores continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of pressure to keep yourself motivated, especially if there\u2019s no one at home who can relate to the difficulties and guide us through them.\u201d<\/p>\n Bobcat First! family members talk with co-director Julisa De Los Santos (left) during a reception at the Office of Intercultural Education during Back to Bates Weekend attended by President Clayton Spencer and other college leaders. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n A yearlong program for each cohort of first-year, first-generation students, B1st consists of an immersive week on campus just prior to regular first-year orientation, followed up throughout the academic year with monthly group lunches and other gatherings, both social and informational. The program is opt-in: Roughly half of eligible students chose to take part both this year and last.<\/p>\n During that initial August week, participants \u201clive together and participate in programs designed to help them transition and feel at home here,\u201d explains Jessica Perez, assistant dean of students for student transition and support. She co-directs the program with Julisa De Los Santos, interim director of the Office of Intercultural Education. \u201cSo by the time regular Orientation starts, they are feeling pretty good about being here.\u201d<\/p>\n During the 2017 pre-orientation week, participants resided in Small and Cheney houses, wood-frame houses a few doors apart on College Street.<\/p>\n “By the time regular orientation starts, they are feeling pretty good about being here.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Faculty and staff led workshops on such practical topics as time management, student employment, and academic planning. There were visits to campus departments and resources, such as the session that introduced the group to the Harward Center.<\/p>\n First-gens, says Perez, may \u201cwalk into a college not knowing what \u2018office hours\u2019 are. When a professor says, \u2018Sign up for office hours,\u2019 you\u2019ve never heard that phrase before. It\u2019s helpful for someone to actually define that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTalking to professors was a lot easier\u201d after the pre-orientation week, says Ryan Lizanecz \u201920 of Portland, Maine. Like Flores, he was in B1st in 2016, the inaugural year for the current programming, and is now a B1st peer mentor. \u201cTalking to, really, any staff or faculty, being comfortable on campus \u2014 just everything was so much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n A Bobcat First! participant last year and a peer mentor this year, Ryan Lizanecz ’20 of Portland, Maine, poses on Alumni Walk. For him, the program for first-gen students made “everything so much easier.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n Also during the first week, a campus scavenger hunt powered by the GooseChase app helped the newbies learn Bates landmarks. (Overheard during the hunt: \u201cThe lake is over there.\u201d \u201cYou mean the Puddle?\u201d) But the hunt was also intended to help the students learn about each other.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine living the first year at Bates without knowing the group first,\u201d says participant Jinzhi Wei \u201920 of Liuzhou, China. \u201cI was lucky to find people that can empathize and resonate with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI found the closest group of Bates friends that I have\u201d through the program, Lizanecz says. \u201cWe all stay in touch. We can always talk to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Jessica Perez, Bobcat First! co-director and assistant dean of students for student transition and support, works with first-generation students in August 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n In short, making connections both within the B1st cohort and beyond it is key to the program. And it\u2019s connection-building on a broad scale.<\/p>\n During Back to Bates Weekend, in September, the Office of Intercultural Education hosted a reception for B1st students and their families. It was a warm and festive event attended by President Spencer and members of the college\u2019s senior staff.<\/p>\n Parents \u201cwant to connect with someone,\u201d says De Los Santos. \u201cThey are really thoughtful and want to be a part of the process. We tell parents that this is also for them, this is their process \u2014 \u2018This is a celebration not just of your student, but of yourselves. This is a family accomplishment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>