Libraries Highlight National First-Generation Celebration Week
by Tiffani-Marie Fite, Program Coordinator of First-Generation Programs and the Kessler Scholars Program & Michelle Mitchell, Reference & Instruction Librarian
Syracuse University Libraries are honoring National First-Generation Celebration Week (November 4-8) with a table book display and an “I Am First” poster display, which highlights the history of the first-generation identity in higher education, the diverse definitions of “first-generation” and inspiring profiles of current first-generation students on campus as well as first-generation faculty and staff members. Stop by Bird Library’s first floor to check out the displays and be sure to check out the online Research Guide.
First-Generation College Celebration (FGCC) is celebrated annually on November 8 to commemorate the signing of the Higher Education Act (“HEA”) of 1965 by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. This act created federal financial aid programs to fund students’ educations and made key investments in colleges and universities. Many of the HEA’s programs, particularly the Federal TRIO programs, promote postsecondary access, retention, and completion for today’s limited-income, first-generation college students.
FGCC strives not only to celebrate first-gen students’ contributions to their communities but also to occasion systemic social change by dismantling barriers to first-generation student success. Through this intentional advocacy focus, FGCC engages key constituencies in building upon the work left unfinished by the HEA.
First-Generation College Celebration (FGCC) is an annual opportunity to raise awareness of the first-generation college student identity by advancing an asset-based, national narrative of these students’ experiences and outcomes.
Since the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and FirstGen Forward (FGF, formerly the Center for First-generation Student Success) hosted the inaugural celebration in 2017, hundreds of higher education institutions, corporations, government officials, non-profits, and K-12 schools have joined together in recognizing the achievements of the first-generation community on and around November 8.