We all need support, that is the simple truth. However, when we embark on a new experience that we have never seen anybody around us go through, the support we need is immeasurable. That is the everyday life of first-generation college students. To pack up your bags and go to a place no one before you has gone and embark on an educational journey that impacts the rest of your life is terrifying and exciting all at once, but impossible to do alone. Here at Rhode Island School of Design, we have seen the impact of first-generation college students embarking on this endeavor alone or with others by their side who have no idea how to support them. That is why we created our First-Gen Supporters Program.
Our First-Gen Supporters Program was created to support the families, friends, mentors, or other supporters that our first-gen students have, in order to best support their student. We aimed to accomplish this by creating effective communication with parents, families, and other supporters of incoming first-gen students, utilizing a multi-tier support structure for supporters and students and demystifying RISD specifically and higher-ed generally.
The Support Plan
April-May
Students have the opportunity to enroll their supporters into the program via their application into the First-Generation College Pre-Orientation Program (FGC POP). This is not a requirement and it is not utilized by every student.
June-August
For those students who get accepted into FGC POP, we reach out to their listed supporters, explaining the program and providing helpful information and privacy disclosures.
The supporters can decline to participate in the program.
Info sharing
We share the university-sent pre-arrival emails to the supporters so they know the same deadlines and documentation that their students know, so there is no lost information in the game of telephone.
We also host webinars with students and supporters about pre-arrival information, FGC POP planning, providing a place to ask questions.
FGC POP Supporters Session (mid-August)
On the first day of FGC POP, we hold a supporters session to welcome our first-gen supporters to not only the school, but also to the college journey that they will be embarking on alongside their student. We introduce the team, share resources, and provide opportunities for questions.
September
Ask the students if they would like us to update their supporters list (remove or add)
First semester email outreach:
For the official first outreach of the semester, we make a digital workbook all about transitions. Here we discuss things from homesickness, friendship and roommate conflicts, academics, and artist identity (includes imposter phenomenon), time management, the wonderful Steve Fund resources, and important contacts. We provide tips and tricks on how supporters can help their students navigate these things, as well as key programs and people to get assistance from on campus.
We provide resources such as the academic calendar aligned with potential student stressors that can be triggered around the same time, and a campus resource one-pager.
In this outreach, we also send out a supporters intake form to gauge ideal times for webinars, topics they are interested in discussing in future communications, and if they want to be put on our weekly first-gen updates mailing list.
October
Webinar #1
We were unable to find a time with the supporters to meet, so we pre-recorded it. We worked with campus partners such as our first-year academic teams, our counseling department, residence life, social equity & inclusion, a student representative, and more. We discussed the mid-semester realities and what students are experiencing in different areas around campus, what November break might look like for their students, and any tips and tricks that may help.
December
To wrap up their students' first semester at RISD, we send an email recapping the semester. We provide tips and tricks surrounding how to talk about students wanting to change majors or transferring, how students may have changed since they dropped them off in the fall, how to navigate their students coming back home for an extended amount of time for break, and what’s next: Wintersession.
February
Webinar #2 & Final Outreach
For the second webinar, we brought back the same campus offices to talk about reflecting on the first semester, what happened during Wintersession, major selection, and what can be expected for the spring and summer.
We thanked our supporters for participating in the program and provided a closing survey to gauge what they found the most useful and what we can do better in the future.
The Outcome
We had 16 supporters register and complete our program. Upon completion of the closing survey, we found that 100% of the survey takers believed that the program increased their knowledge about RISD and the first-year student experience, and it increased the knowledge of how to support their student. The tools that supporters found most helpful were the regular email communication and the RISD & Student Stress Calendar we created. One survey response noted that this program helped them "feel much better and became much more stable" regarding their communication about school with their student.
With any new program, we find things that we would like to change and build upon, and this program is no different. Luckily, now that the first year is complete, we have a lot of templates to draw from and some items that don’t need to be adjusted at all, so the communication structure will not need much altering.
In the next few years, we aim to host a first-gen college supporters event during Family Weekend, which happens in the middle of fall semester. This can increase our connection to families, as well as provide some fun for both supporters and students. On the virtual side, one thing we would like to bring into the program is the ability to show a virtual tour, made by our first-gen students, highlighting important parts of campus and the broader Providence community for students and supporters to engage with before arriving on campus. The aim of this initiative is to highlight things that a lot of general tours may not touch upon, but relate heavily to the first-gen experience. Therefore, we would like to highlight our program meeting spaces, places around campus to get free supplies, academic work spaces, and more, providing supporters and students with added security to their potential success at RISD. Here is to another year of supporter success!
I would love to hear what you have done to engage supporters in your first-gen spaces! Please, feel free to reach out to me at mfieldin@risd.edu.
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