by Elise Goitia '18

Kelsey Witzling '14, an AmeriCorps VISTA employee at Knox, has recently started a club designed to mentor first-generation underclassmen and guide them on their way to learning how to navigate day-to-day life as a new college student. Titled 'First-Gens,' Witzling intends for the club to graduate into a student-run community that welcomes anyone who struggles as a first-generation student searching for their identity.

A first-generation college student is any student whose parents don't have a four-year degree or a bachelor's degree. Currently, there are 323 students at Knox who are first-generation students. Of those, 75 are first-years.

"The reason that I think this is important is because only 34% of first generation students graduate from college in six years. It's a pretty small number," said Witzling. "Everyone is learning about what it's like to be a college student at a different pace. I want to make sure I'm honoring and recognizing that."

Witzling has reached out to upperclassmen who are first-generation college students, hoping they would provide mentoring to younger students. "Five upperclassmen students are really gung-ho about it, and brainstormed a lot of ideas as to what we could do with this club," she said. "A lot of students don't know how to fill out things like FAFSA [a financial aid form], but also their parents don't know. They never had anyone to tell them how to do it. There are a lot of questions they want to get answered, but they don't know who or what to ask. I wanted to make sure there was a place for everyone to get their questions answered."

Witzling plans on utilizing every resource that is available to answer first-generation students' questions, such as bringing in financial aid experts for workshops, using the library as a resource, and having Knox College faculty and staff who were first-generation students come in and share their experiences.

"I want it to be a community. I want it to be fun. I want it to be a place where we get to know each other so there's really a lot of support. I want it to be more like a space where students feel safe in asking those questions. I want to be able to hold workshops for people who want to learn anything, whether it's about college or adult life or anything at all."