As a first-generation college student, where did you draw inspiration for attending college and how did you develop that college mindset?
AA: I remember the first time I heard the word college. I was in first grade and a teacher said to me, “Alvina, if anyone asks you if you are going to college, your answer should be yes.” That moment stands out in my mind because at the time, I did not know what college was, and I could not imagine someone ever approaching me and asking me if I was going to college. But surprisingly, the question did come up, and I do remember saying, “yes.”
Imagine the first-generation students who end up at one of the top colleges in the country. They are largely from lower-income families and more likely to be minority students than the entire student body. They enter universities with amazing potential to provide academic and other resources. But are they well served? Are they happy? Should the universities be doing more? These are some of the questions Rachel Gable answers in
The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities (Princeton University Press). Gable, director of institutional effectiveness at Virginia Commonwealth University, conducted more than 100 interviews with first-generation students at Harvard and Georgetown Universities. She answered questions about the book via email.
Montage
Shelby Meyerhoff uses body paint and photography to transform herself into creatures and scenes from the natural world. Photograph: a blue-ringed octopus
Photograph courtesy of Shelby Meyerhoff
Shelby Meyerhoff’s liminal, liberating body painting
John F. Kennedy as an undergraduate, circa 1939, had well-formed views on the advent of World War II.
Photograph courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum