{"id":10920,"date":"2023-10-31T00:39:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T00:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/lavie\/?p=10920"},"modified":"2023-10-31T00:39:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T00:39:12","slug":"dutchmen-first-pathways-for-first-generation-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2023\/10\/31\/dutchmen-first-pathways-for-first-generation-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutchmen First: Pathways for first-generation students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Meredith Haas ’24, co-editor-in-chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating the college system is by no means easy but being a first-generation student\u2014a student whose parents have not completed a 4-year degree\u2014poses an additional set of challenges in unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for LVC\u2019s campus community, Chad Schell, academic success coach and Dutchmen First coordinator, knows firsthand what it means to be a first-gen student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took the position as academic success coach, and it was sort of an additional detail that I would be leading the first-gen program,\u201d Schell said. \u201cIn doing some research for that, I realized, ‘Wow, I\u2019m first-gen myself.’ I didn\u2019t ever really have any resources or hear about anything like that when I went to school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the first-gen program at LVC was established prior to Schell\u2019s role in the Center for Academic Success and Exploratory Majors (CASEM), it only consisted of students meeting a few times per semester for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, beginning around Thanksgiving of 2021, the program was handed over to Schell, who would go on to make a big push for the program to have an increased presence on campus. After only two years, the program has tripled in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main goal of Dutchmen First is to provide a support system for these students and build a community,\u201d Schell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutchmen First not only provides a support system for students, but it also offers mentorship, one-on-one academic coaching opportunities, financial assistance and even workshops relevant to both the college experience and life beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of the development process was building workshops that are built around giving students information that they may not have otherwise had,\u201d Schell said. \u201cThey are specifically designed around a student\u2019s academic journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some examples of workshops include information about scholarships and Breen Center presentations on developing a personal brand. For older students, there have been workshops about resume building, job searching, securing internships, navigating career websites and even financial literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond that, Dutchmen First teams with other resources on campus to host de-stress events where the importance of stress reduction and finding balance is emphasized, as well as nights of service where students can give back to the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Dutchmen First is an excellent resource for students to learn more about the processes of being a college student, it doubles as a way of recognizing and normalizing the struggle that can come along with being first-gen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of first-gen students are balancing a bit more when it comes to the financial side of things,\u201d Schell said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s commuting, working, all while trying to take a full course load of credits. Just trying to provide them with any kind of resources is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutchmen First serves as a reminder for all LVC students that a lack of generational privilege or access to higher education is not a barrier to success. Dutchmen First is committed to providing students with the tools needed to be successful on LVC\u2019s campus and far beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to resources, Dutchmen First offers a $500 scholarship per year to students committed to participating in the programs and workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who are interested in becoming a part of Dutchmen First can contact Chad Schell directly at schell@lvc.edu<\/a> or visit www.lvc.edu\/academics\/dutchmen-first\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meredith Haas ’24, co-editor-in-chief Navigating the college system is by no means easy but being a first-generation student\u2014a student whose parents have not completed a 4-year degree\u2014poses an additional set of challenges in unfamiliar […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-front-page","9":"category-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}