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Each year on Nov. 8, colleges and universities nationwide recognize First-Generation College Celebration Day, honoring students who are the first in their families to pursue higher education. At Cal State San Bernardino, where 78 percent of students identify as first-generation as of Fall 2025, this celebration reflects a defining part of our campus identity.
Throughout the week leading up to Nov. 8, 2025, CSUSB hosted first-generation-centered workshops and engagement opportunities that affirmed student strengths and built community. These sessions focused on academic success, career exploration, storytelling, and navigating college systems with confidence. Conversations highlighted leadership, persistence, and pride. They reinforced what our campus community knows to be true: first-generation students bring knowledge, adaptability, and determination that strengthen the entire university.
Across campus, My Story, My Journey (Mi Historia, Mi Camino) storytelling booths invited students, faculty, staff, and allies to share written reflections on their first-generation identity or their commitment to supporting first-generation scholars. Located in high-traffic areas, the booths created visible spaces for affirmation and connection. Participants shared stories that celebrated family legacy, personal growth, and the courage to chart new paths, transforming campus spaces into living archives of first-generation excellence.
The celebration culminated on First-Generation College Celebration Day, Saturday, Nov. 8, where CSUSB joined institutions nationwide in honoring first-generation achievement. The event featured a first-generation faculty keynote speaker and a panel of first-generation students, alumni, faculty, and staff who shared their academic, career, and personal journeys. The event also welcomed middle and high school students from CSUSB’s pre-college TRIO Programs. These future first-generation scholars joined the celebration as honored guests, creating meaningful synergy between current Coyotes and those preparing to follow in their footsteps. When first-generation college students shared their journeys, they expanded what younger students believed was possible and modeled persistence in action.
A highlight of the week was the My History, My Journey (Mi Historia, Mi Camino) Award, which elevated first-generation voices through storytelling and a financial award. Students from CSUSB’s San Bernardino and Palm Desert campuses submitted written reflections or short videos sharing their journeys, and two students received $250. One recipient wrote, “I thought of my parents’ and grandparents' tired hands, my younger family members watching me quietly to see what was happening, and the sacrifices my family made, extra shifts, shared bedrooms, and postponed needs just so I could keep going.”
National First-Generation Celebration Week honored achievement and experience. At CSUSB, being first-generation is a source of strength that shapes campus culture and propels future generations forward.
CSUSB thanks TIAA and the Strada Education Foundation for their generous sponsorship of the First-Generation College Celebration. The #CelebrateFirstGen grant is an investment that allows us to scale and sustain this work in service of first-generation students across education, career, and life.
