Written by: Ashley Fann and Elizabeth Hutchins
Celebrating unique student experiences is critical to supporting student success and promoting a sense of belonging. As a first-generation alum of Dalton State College, I am honored to serve in a position that allows me to celebrate our first-generation population. My name is Ashley Fann, and I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in 2022. Shortly after, I was lucky to accept a position in the Student Success and Advising Center. Half of the Dalton State student population self-identifies as first-generation college students. As an alum, I understand the Roadrunner experience and relate to the level of achievement our students display. Celebrating our students drives me to implement innovative opportunities as I continue my professional journey.
Dalton State College thanks TIAA and the Strada Education Foundation for their generous sponsorship of the First-Generation College Celebration. The #CelebrateFirstGen grant funds enabled us to scale our efforts to connect with and support more first-generation students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We expanded our first-generation celebration from a one-day event to a four-day series of creative opportunities for our students.
Dr. Hutchins and I planned our inaugural Celebrate First Gen Week to empower and inspire our students while uniting our campus in celebration. Alongside this mission, we hope our efforts will cement first-generation celebration in our campus culture. Hosting this week of events also facilitates the first goal of our institutional strategic plan, which is to improve our first-generation efforts. We connected with over 500 students throughout the week and engaged 25 faculty, staff, and administration volunteers. This level of engagement, double previous events, showcases our campus’ collective passion for celebrating the first-generation college student experience.
Our celebration kickoff, the Roadrunner Block Party, allowed students to pick up a shirt with our Celebrate First Gen logo while taking pictures with custom social media frames. Faculty and staff volunteers helped us give out cupcakes and inform students about the rest of the week’s events. Our Offices of Academic Affairs and Enrollment Services co-sponsored this event. We then hosted Let’s Taco ‘Bout Success, an opportunity for our students to network with first-generation faculty, staff, and administrators over a free lunch. Mid-week, we tapped into a campus tradition by inviting students to join us for painting our Rock. We decorated the Rock with a celebratory first-
generation design and had students sign their names to mark their place in campus history. To conclude our week, we partnered with our Campus Activities Board to host a Family Movie Night. Our president joined students and their families for a brief motivational talk before the movie started.
College President, Dr. John Fuchko III, illustrated my best advice by sharing, “Find something to get involved with on campus. Find something you love and enjoy, people you enjoy being around. It will make all the difference.” Getting involved as a student led me to holistic success and helped me move into my current professional and academic roles. The impact of this week encourages our campus to continue celebrating year-round. We hope this inspires you to live boldly while you support others in your community.
