Interviewer: Lux Darkbloom 
Interview Subject: Mia Garcia 

Lux: Alright, so let’s start with just some basics. If you could introduce yourself and just share whatever you would like listeners to know about you. 

Mia: Well, my name is Mia Garcia, I’m a first-gen student, and I’m the oldest in my family. I’m the only girl, too, so that’s fun. [Laughs] And I’m a kinesiology major, and I’m hoping to go the pre-med route, but you never know to be honest, so I never just say pre-med major as well, because life throws so many things at you, and I mean, healthcare is such a big field, so it’s never okay to just set one thing on, because anytime anything can change. 

Lux: Yeah, it’s so true, but I like that you’re open to exploring. You’re kind of thinking this direction, but whatever happens, happens. What year are you in school now?

Mia: I’m a sophomore now. 

Lux: Cool, and your major is kinesiology, you said? 

Mia: Yes. 

Lux: Could you talk a little bit about that? I feel like a lot of listeners might not know exactly what that field is. 

Mia: Yeah, so kinesiology is just the study of exercise science and sports, so it’s like physiology, anatomy of the body, but most kinesiology majors go to be like NFL PTs [physical therapists], OTs [occupational therapists], like physical therapists. Some people also do respiratory [therapy]. There’s a lot you can do with kinesiology, so I went that route, because I didn’t want to do like the basic biology major, because I really do like sports, and I’m really interested in sports, and I was hoping to do something in sports medicine, so kinesiologies are honestly a great route. They even have you do internships with the athletic department of the U, and it’s honestly really great.

Lux: That is so cool. I didn’t realize that. That internship piece is super valuable, too. So are you enrolled full-time or part-time right now? 

Mia: I’m a full-time student right now. I’m currently taking 15 credits. 

Lux: So more than full-time, even…is 12 kind of where full-time starts?

Mia: Yeah, 12 is where full-time starts. But I feel like 15 isn’t that much, at least for me, because last semester, being a freshman, I took way too much. I was–the first semester, which was literally just fall semester–I was taking 20 credits. Spring semester, I was taking 19 credits. I was just, like, killing myself the whole first year.

Lux: Damn, that is a lot. Twenty [credits] is the most I’ve ever heard of somebody taking. That’s incredible. 

Mia: The borderline where they cut you off is 21. So they told me, they were like, “Well, you can’t take another one because you’re going to be cut off.” I was like, okay. 

Lux: “We’re cutting you off at 20. I’m so sorry.”

Mia: Yes, they basically told me, “No more classes.” 

Lux: Oh, that is wild. So kind of thinking back to, I guess, before you started college and you first made that decision, were there any specific people, maybe a teacher or a family member, or even an experience that played a role in deciding to major in kinesiology? 

Mia: Not really. So initially my first declared major last year was biomedical engineering, but being pre-med and having to do so many classes–because pre-med is just a whole major itself and it’s so much work as well. I decided to listen to people and there’s an advisor who I was talking to my first year and they’re like, you know what, pre-med is very important, but it’s also important to study something you like and enjoy because at the end of the day, it’s your degree and you’re the one putting in the work for everything. So that’s when I really started exploring different degrees. I was thinking of doing business at one point, marketing, because I really enjoy social events. I love working. I love being creative and working on things hands-on with people. So I was sort of going that route, but then I really love healthcare and I found kinesiology and actually found kinesiology through a sports educator here that I went to a panel of theirs and they were like, “Well, if you’re really into sports, you’re into healthcare, but you’re also wanting to do activities, internships, and still be more involved like that, kinesiology would be a great major.” So that’s sort of how I got introduced to it. I officially declared it by end of freshman year. 

Lux: That’s awesome. That’s really cool. Who was the educator who you saw speaking on the panel out of curiosity? Do you remember?

Mia: I don’t remember their name, but I know what they look like. If I saw them walking. I would recognize them, but I don’t remember their name. I went for like the last 20 minutes of their panel because I had class before, so I was like, I didn’t even get the name. I was just running to the panel so I could at least hear a little bit of what was going on. 

Lux: Oh, I totally get that. That is so relatable. Your schedule is so busy, too.

Mia: Yes. Last semester, definitely. 

Lux: So going back to that first semester on campus, can you kind of talk about what that was like for you?

Mia: It was awesome, but really hard at the same time. Since I am a first-gen student, I didn’t know 20 credits was going to be that much. Because in my head, I was always like an overachiever in high school. And I had to do lots of classes, lots of concurrent enrollment, lots of AP classes, and honors classes. So I was like, “Oh yeah, it’s just one class, one class” and ended up [taking] like five or six classes. I didn’t realize how much work it was for each individual class, especially like gen chem, math. I was taking a math class…that was Calc I, Calc 2, and Trigonometry. It was, like, a new class they had just introduced. So I was not in my head. I really threw myself in the clouds and I was like, “Yeah, you can do it.” It was honestly really hard, but I think my peers were the ones who helped me the most. Like Jimena, Hector, like just the whole First-Gen Space was honestly such a help to meet new people because it’s also really hard meeting people as a commuter. Because I’m also a commuter. So I would be coming in at 7:00am. I would not be leaving campus at, like, 8:00pm because I had some classes literally all day. But at the end of the day, I think it really helped me. So, I also learned my limits, and it pushed me to learn time management a lot faster than what I would have learned. 

Lux: That sounds like a whirlwind. Like you mentioned, it’s hard to meet people in classes. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Mia: Yeah. So I think most college students can relate to this, especially being a freshman. And I’m also low-key kind of shy. I don’t talk to people because they sit right by me or anything like that. And it’s really hard when other people also don’t talk to you when they sit by you because I feel like we’re all in the same boat. We’re all confused. We don’t know what’s going on. We’re just trying to make it through class at 7:00am. So I think First-Gen [Scholars] was honestly such a great thing, where I met lots of people. I was sort of forced out of my comfort zone, and that sort of related towards my classes and my peers in my classes. I was getting more comfortable randomly talking to people and introducing myself every time somebody new sat next to me. And honestly, that’s how I started becoming friends with a lot of people in my classes. 

Lux: That’s a really good strategy. It’s so hard to do that, isn’t it?

Mia: I still have trouble sometimes. 

Lux: Oh, yeah. Same. I can totally relate…I was just going to ask you about influences on your choice of major, but I feel like we’ve gone there pretty well, unless you want to add anything about your career path, that sort of stuff.

Mia: I would say my career path did influence a lot about my major because I wanted to do something in between something I liked and something that would also help my future. Like I said in the beginning, I think anything can happen at any time. Anything can change your decision on what career you want to take, especially wanting to go into the medical field so much time. And I’m willing to put in the work. It’s just I think anything can happen at the end of the day, and you never know. At first I wanted to become an anesthesiologist. At this point, after all my work experience and everything, I want to go into emergency medicine. So every day I feel like your opinion changes, especially in medicine, because there’s so much going on. Every day, there’s new things coming out. And I think it’s always great to keep an open mind, especially if you’re in health care. It’s one of the biggest, most worked on careers ever. So yeah. 

Lux: Good call. Good call. So for the next few questions, I’m going to be focusing more on the practical aspects of day-to-day life in college. The financial side of college education is a pretty significant undertaking. And for a lot of folks, being first-gen adds another layer of complexity to that experience. Could you talk about your journey with paying for education, what that’s been like and what role, if any, working a job, part-time or full-time, has played in that?

Mia: So I’m very blessed, and I had a scholarship last year and this year. Last year covered my full tuition. So I had to pay for fees. And even if I only paid for fees, I’ve always been in a family who’s been very hard working. I’ve been working since I was seven-years-old. So we were just used to that constant “you got to work, you got to work, you got to work” environment and just always having so much on my plate. So I always felt stress, but stress to me is normal. To other people, stress might not be normal to have the amount that I have, but we all have different stress levels. So I was also a medical assistant. I had two jobs, which I’m still in those two jobs. I was a family med MA and a urgent care MA. So those two, honestly, were the best jobs I could have gotten. I really love them. That’s why I’m still working in them. They give you so much experience. You meet so many great providers. And where I work, it’s not just doctors, so like MDs, or DOs, there’s also PAs, there’s also NPs. So like nurse practitioners, physician assistants, there’s so many things going on. You meet so many great people, you get so much experience. So I really think that helped. But that’s what I use to cover my fees. And then again, this semester, I have a scholarship. I still do have to do a payment plan. But with that, I also work for First-Gen [Scholars] now, I’m a mentor. So now I have three jobs. But I learned so much time management and scheduling last semester–last year in general–that I really applied it this year as well. And for me, I don’t really feel stressed. I feel like I have a schedule, I have a rhythm, I’m organized. So that’s what keeps me in check. And that also helps me, like, control my finances. Like [for] my finances, I have to have a sheet planned out or else I’m going insane, I cannot remember what I’m doing, what I have to pay. And especially being a college student, you also have car payments, insurance, all [those] monthly things, registration. And you never know what can happen. Your tire pops sometimes–especially if you’re a commuter [and] your tire pops, you need to pay for that. So I think for finances, like just a finance sheet helps so much. And thankfully, my dad, he owns a business so he’s very financially literate. And he helped me a lot with that. So I’m very blessed for that, too. 

Lux: That is a lot of work, my goodness. How do you balance all of these priorities? Between three jobs, and then schoolwork, and family and social stuff, how do you find balance there? 

Mia: I learned balance a lot last year, too. Last year, I was working way more than this year. I was working every single day, which was not a great idea. But I learned my lesson. And I feel like your first year, you learn a lot about yourself, and about others, and your own limits. This year, I only work twice a week as an MA for daytime, which is family medicine. And then nighttime, I only work two times a week as well. So that also helps. I’ve honestly prioritized school over anything. I always tell people, school comes first, your education comes first. Yes, you need to work, but your schoolwork has to come first, or else you’re going to fall behind and you’re not going to understand things. And that’s when you’re going to feel left out in class sometimes. Because sometimes you go into class and you’re like, “Oh, crap, I didn’t go over the information or the lecture notes” and then you’re just lost the whole class and you feel awful for being there. Because you’re just confused and you don’t know what’s going on. So that’s why I always tell people, school comes first, then comes work. And then from there on, I plan with my friends and family. Thankfully, I live at home still so I see my family every day. And we’re a very close family so we always go on trips and stuff like that. So that’s also very nice. 

Lux: That’s so great. I’m so impressed by how many different variables you’re balancing. It’s just like spinning plates, you know? There’s so much going on. But that’s really great. It sounds, like you said, you’ve learned a lot about what your limits are, and it just sounds like you have a very good system working for you that you’ve created there. Whether it’s finances or scheduling, you plan a lot. And it seems like you’re prepared for even kind of unpredictable stuff, too. 

Mia: Yeah, I always tell people, you never know what’s going to happen. Yes, it might be a good day at the start of the day, but at the end of the day, you never know. 

Lux: Yeah, that is very real, like, super valid. So the next few questions are going to be focused more on things like the relationships and support systems that have kind of helped you to navigate your college experience. The experience of a first-gen student involves a lot of discovering new resources and support. What kind of key factors or support systems have you found most helpful so far as a student?

Mia: I would say my biggest support system [is] my parents. I go to them when I’m confused. They might not know what’s going on when I tell them, like, “Oh, this is going on at school. This is what’s happening to me” because they’ve never had to go through school or anything like that, but they always just listen to me. And at the end of the day, they’ve always told me, “You know what? Always ask for help. It’s okay to ask for help.” And I think that’s where a big part of First-Gen [Scholars] also came through. They, since day one, would always be like, “You know what? Ask for help. Ask for help. It’s okay. We’re here to guide you guys.” And Jimena, Hector, Dr. Johnson, all of them helped me so much through that as well. And my mentor last year, Ashley, she was so great as well. She was also a medical assistant, and she was going the healthcare route. And she honestly just helped me so much as well. So I would say two of my big support systems are like my family, but also my friends, and my peers, and just mentors here at school. 

Lux: That is really great. So being the first in your family to go to college, we know that that takes a lot of determination and a lot of resourcefulness. How has being first-gen status shaped your academic journey at the U?

Mia: If anything, it’s shaped my academic journey in a way where I think, every day, I should be grateful. Because my dad only made it through junior high before he got taken out of school. My mom didn’t make it through all the way through high school either. So I see them, and see everything they’ve done, and how far they’ve gotten in life with just not even finishing high school, either of them. And I just thank God every day I have an education. And I try to do my best and ask for help when I need to. And I feel like that’s a big part of it. I feel like first-gen students pave the way for other first-gen students. And that’s what I try to think of it every day.

I try to do my best, especially academically. And I understand lots of people are like, “A”s are academically your best, but during college, you can’t have “A”s all the time, especially if you’re taking really rough classes. So I think to tell everybody, just do your best. Your best might be a “D” the first time, but you can always retake the class. You could end up getting an “A.” So just do your best. Academic validation means a lot to me because I came from being a 4.0 student in high school to here. And I was just like, on my first test, I got a “C”. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is the end of the world.” But it really isn’t the end of the world. Things keep going. You keep taking more classes, and they keep getting harder and harder to be honest. 

Lux: Yeah, and that experience is so jarring, getting your first grade where you’re like, “Oh my goodness, how did this happen?” Because that validation through grades is so huge. But yeah, I’m really glad that you’re so realistic about it. And you’re like, your best is the most you can offer, truly. 

Mia: Yeah, I had a lot of mental issues last year from that where I was just getting down on myself. And I was like, I kept telling myself I was dumb. I was like, what’s going on, Mia? Because I came from being a straight “A” student to having “C”s, “B”s. But I think you just have to make your peace with it. And that’s what I tell everybody. You have to give yourself grace because you’re not just going through school, you’re going through life. It’s your first year, especially for first-gen students. This is your first time doing everything. And you can’t even ask your parents for help because they don’t even know what’s going on. So just give yourself grace and just live every day as its own. And just live every day as you can.

Lux: Yeah, that is really good advice because it’s so hard to kind of get out of that mindset of striving for perfection, essentially. 

Mia: And I always tell people, you can’t do everything by yourself. You need help. 

Lux: Totally. And I think that’s just one of the greatest skills, too, being able to determine, “Okay, I need help with this. And this is who I can ask.” Because that’s the process, too, right? Like figuring out who to go to for support. What has your experience been like with building relationships with your faculty members? Do you feel like they’ve been helpful as far as recommending resources or services–things like that–on campus? 

Mia: I think I’ve only ever talked to two of my professors because I was in such big classes last semester. They would always seem very busy. And I don’t blame them for that. They had like a class of 300 students. But when I would ask for help, they sometimes wouldn’t be the most helpful. I think the TAs sometimes provided better resources. Or the SI students from the library would also provide way better resources. And no shade to the professors. Sometimes I just found it better to talk to the TAs or the SIs or the LAs rather than the professor, in my opinion. 

Lux: Yeah, I think that’s totally a legitimate approach, too. Because, yeah, if you feel like you’re not getting that kind of connection or getting the answers that you need from professors, I mean, that is such a hard situation to deal with. And it sucks. So I’m very, very glad that TAs are available. And I mean, those classes, like you said, they’re humongous. And that is something to adjust to. I mean, I remember the first time I was in a class that had maybe 100 people in it. And like, “Whoa, this is huge.” But I’ve heard of classes at the U with 300 plus students. And yeah, it would be really, really challenging to try to have a connection to your faculty member there because they probably don’t recognize you or your name even. But I could see that being really discouraging, too, going to somebody for help and having them not really show up in a way that you need them to. 

Mia: And it was hard the first time that happened to me because it happened with my Gen Con professor. And he was really nice. He wasn’t rude at all. He was really nice. But our class was, like, 400 students plus. We had a huge class. When we had midterms, we had three conference rooms all for ourselves because we were so many students. But I tried to just take it and roll with it and be like, okay, maybe this is not the person who has the resources, but somebody else does. And I feel like that’s one thing lots of first-gen students have in common where they don’t give up. They keep trying. So that’s where I think everybody can take their skills and learn new skills from their professors or themselves and be like, you know what? I’ll keep trying. Let me push harder. Let me find more things that help me. 

Lux: I think that’s really smart because, yeah, it can be so discouraging. And it takes a lot of vulnerability to ask for help, but also a lot of bravery to show up and say like, “Hey, I don’t know this. Could you tell me what I need to know?” So, yeah. 

Mia: And I’m no perfect angel. It took me till spring semester to finally ask for help. So I don’t judge anybody who can’t ask for help. It still costs me a lot to ask for help. And even now, like I try to figure everything out on my own, but sometimes we just can’t do it on our own. 

Lux: Yeah, and there’s totally no need to. If the resources are there, we don’t want folks to struggle if we can help it. 

Mia: It’s not needed. 

Lux: Yeah, because I mean, there are already so many barriers going through a bureaucracy like higher ed. So, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Have you ever had a faculty member who has said that they’re also first-gen just out of curiosity? 

Mia: No. 

Lux: Oh, dang. We have a pretty substantial group of faculty. It’s a group called the 1850 Society or something like this, but it’s all first-gen faculty.

Mia: Yeah, I’ve never met any of my professors to be first-gen. 

Lux: I wish that folks would be more open about that kind of thing, because you know there’s got to be a bunch who are, too. 

Mia: Yeah. 

Lux: So you are currently a mentor, correct?

Mia: Yes.

Lux: For First-Gen Scholars. And you had a mentor last year named Ashley, right?

Mia: Yes.

Lux:  In addition to mentors–and you mentioned your family is like a great source of support–are there any folks on campus–and totally no pressure if there aren’t–but are there folks on campus who you find these days and you’re like, yeah, this is my go-to support person. 

Mia: I have a few friends who I would say, yeah, they’re my go-to like, “Hey, I have a question in class. Hey, I need a little bit of extra help” and stuff like that. But I do have my best friend. She’s not in college right now, but she wants to go into it next semester. But she’s honestly, like, my main support system. She might not be in college at the moment, but I feel like she’s a very understanding person. She just hears me out when I just need to let it out sometimes. But I think she’s one of my biggest supports, honestly. 

Lux: What’s her name?

Mia: Leslie. 

Lux: Leslie. Well, I’m very glad you’ve got a Leslie in your life. And I bet you’re going to be a huge source of support for her when she starts.

Mia: I told her I was like, I’m going to learn as much as I can so I can help you, too. 

Lux: I love that about first-gen students. This is one of these characteristics that I keep just noticing as I talk to folks. First-gen students always think about their peers and supporting other people who are under similar circumstances so that they don’t have to feel like they’re going it alone, you know. I love that about first-gen students so much because you just don’t get that very often, in my experience, at least, with continuing-generation students. And so it’s just really encouraging. And it’s so validating when you can have people support you in your educational journey.

Mia: It’s very helpful.

Lux: Yeah. And that peer support–we learn so much from our peers, often more than we do from even faculty and staff. So this is like a really great, great support person you’ve got there. I am curious to hear about being first-gen status and if that’s had any kind of impact on your social well-being or your emotional well-being?

Mia: I would say it does have a little bit of impact on my emotional well-being, just because sometimes I go into classes and people just assume I know everything or they assume I know how everything’s going to go, especially with professors. And sometimes I’m in shock that they don’t realize that not everybody has somebody who’s gone through college. Like, for example, one of my professors this semester–no shade–I think it might have slipped out. The first day of class, she’s like, “If you have any questions, you can ask your parents. They know how college is.” And I was just in shock. I’m like, “Well, not everybody has parents who’ve gone through college or even finished high school.” So I would hope they would be more open than that. I feel like sometimes that brings you down a little bit, but I think it also [puts] a lot of pressure on the emotional state part of everything, because you don’t want to disappoint your parents. You don’t want to disappoint your parents, your family, yourself as well. You’re putting so much pressure on yourself to be able to do so well. So that’s sometimes hard. But like I said in the beginning, I’ve learned to give myself grace and that I can’t do everything. And sometimes not everything works out for some reason. And I’m a very spiritual person so I always just think God has a plan, and it’s going to happen how it is. 

Lux: I think that’s really, really helpful to  find or to rely on like spiritual support, because, yeah, this is all new. And a lot of times, like you said, you have faculty who are kind of just–and no shade to them, like you said–blissfully unaware that that is just not the case for all students. And it’s a real blind spot…We have about 25% percent of our students who are first-gen at the U, and that’s a huge number. That’s around 1000 people–just for undergrads, too, not even including grad students in that first-gen designation…I wish that all faculty were a little bit more knowledgeable about the lives of their students, you know? 

Mia: Yeah. 

Lux: But I mean, in those huge classes, that would be really, really challenging to do. But I think it’s important to not assume that everybody’s got family experience or generational wealth or anything like that. Not all of us come from that. So, yeah, and kind of related to that, I’m sure you’ve seen them on campus, there are a lot of banners for this campaign called U Belong. 

Mia: Yes. 

Lux: So, it’s a big value at the university that we want to foster a feeling of belonging on campus. Regardless of who you are, everybody belongs there. But the demographics do have an influence on anybody’s sense of belonging, especially if you live in a place like Utah, where we have a dominant culture that’s religious and where the racial/ethnic demographics of our faculty are not very diverse. The campus itself is different from the rest of the state where we do have a lot more diversity–and diversity of experiences, identities, that sort of thing. So, that’s a lot of preface, but with that in mind, what has your experience been on campus with feeling a sense of belonging? 

Mia: I feel like a sense of belonging also comes through…one’s security in one’s self and one’s security with their culture and their roots and all that. And I feel very secure with my culture, being Hispanic. I love speaking Spanish. At home, there’s no English. I just love hearing people speak Spanish as well. Like when I go to work and sometimes they need an interpreter and somebody needs to translate for somebody else, I have found so much gratitude in that because I hear other people like, “Oh, thank God you speak Spanish. Thank you for helping me. Like, you’re such a great person.” I feel like I take that as I need to keep educating myself so I can become someone bigger and someone more for other people as well. I feel like there’s a lot of people here on campus. You just need to find them–more ethnic groups and stuff like that. There’s so much on campus. Like if you really go out and when they’re doing the little food trucks and stuff like that, there’s like so many different foods. It’s not just pizza. Like the other day, there’s poke bowls, Indian food. And I was like, “I’ve never had Indian food in my life. I’m sorry!” So I found a whole bunch of people and they were like telling me about it. I was like, whoa, this is so great. Like, I think…sometimes you need to go out of your comfort zone, find those people because they’re really here, and they honestly make you feel like you belong. And they give you so much of a sense of belonging because it’s like, you’re not the only one who feels like that. Other people feel like that. So you just need to go and find them and just be friends with everybody, in my opinion. Even if they’re not the same race as you, if they’re not the same color as you, everybody has their own stories. Everybody has different languages. They have different cultural backgrounds. I think it’s so beautiful just to hear everything, see everything and all that. 

Lux: Yeah, I do feel like our campus is kind of like a little oasis in the middle of an otherwise pretty homogeneous state. Based on your experiences at the U, what kind of support, or resources, or services do you wish were available to you as a student that we don’t currently have? 

Mia: That we don’t currently have? Oh, that’s a hard one. I really have to think about this one. I think something great that a lot of first-generation students would appreciate is having a department that will help you with your finances. But not just your finances, they help you fill out the FAFSA. That’s a huge thing right now. And I have so many students in my mentor group who ask me questions. And it took me a lot of work to figure it out by myself because my parents didn’t even know what was going on. I think that would be an awesome department to have. I feel like that’s the one I haven’t seen or heard of at least. 

Lux: Yeah, FAFSA is not easy to navigate. It is so much weird legalese or technical language. I remember filling it out myself years ago. And yeah, they haven’t made it any easier in the past 20 years. It’s still complicated. 

Mia: Yes, very. 

Lux: So complicated. It’s not even just like the technical language, but the way that the questions are phrased are open to a lot of interpretation. So it’s like, I’m not even sure what you’re asking me in these questions. And now that there’s an electronic portal, there are all kinds of questions around that, too. So yeah, props to you for navigating that and also helping your students navigate it because that’s a huge obstacle for a lot of people. And it’s not intuitive. Not even a little. 

Mia: I know. I remember like last year, I would read the questions over and over. And I’m like, “What is this asking me? I have like six different responses in my head right now.”

Lux: Exactly. I remember looking online, trying to get even a little guidance from other people,  like, “What the hell is this form all about? I don’t know how to answer these.” Those questions are definitely phrased in a way that makes it complicated to try to figure out, “How am I answering this? I don’t want to commit fraud.”

Mia: Yes, that’s what I was thinking. Like every two seconds [whenever I] put any number in any box. When it asked about income, I’m like, “Exact number, Mia. You cannot add a zero, not leave a zero out. I don’t want to be told I’m committing fraud here.”

Lux: It reminds me of doing taxes or something. 

Mia: Yes!

Lux: So yeah, that alone–navigating that system is impressive. Being able to do that and helping other people? Thank you for your service for real. So this question is another kind of moment of self-reflection. Thinking about your time in college so far, could you talk about a milestone, or an experience, or an accomplishment that you’ve had that you are especially proud of?

Mia: I feel like a huge thing I am proud of is being a mentor for First-Gen [Scholars]. A lot of people might not think of it as a huge thing. You might think, like, “Oh, getting good grades is a better accomplishment.” But in my opinion, I think giving back to your community is, like, the best way you can be grateful for everything you have and embrace it. So I think First-Gen [Scholars] has honestly been so great. I love meeting new people. I love helping other people. And I think that’s one of my biggest accomplishments so far, at least this year, as well as just getting through classes, getting good grades. That’s honestly great and everything, but [with] First-Gen, just being a mentor–I love helping, being there for other people, helping guide them if they need anything. And even if I can’t help them, I love figuring out how to help them. I just love helping people, I guess. 

Lux: You have picked a good major in that case. But yeah, I think that’s so important. Community, feeling a sense of community can really make an experience so much better. And, yeah, I think it’s just a value that we share–that it’s really important to bring people with you in your successes. So as we wrap up, I just have one more question for you. And I’m wondering, what kind of advice would you give to another first-gen student for getting through college? If somebody is struggling, maybe it’s like their third year, they’re exhausted. What kind of advice would you have? 

Mia: I would honestly tell another person to be graceful with themselves, to give themselves grace, to be patient as well. Not everything has to happen when you want it to happen. Sometimes it happens in a year or two. But just be graceful with yourself. Be kind to yourself and always be willing to ask for help because the resources are there for you. Don’t just take them for granted. If they’re offering them, just take it. 

Lux: Yeah, I don’t want anybody to go through college feeling alone. 

Mia: And yeah, yeah, make friends! That’s my biggest recommendation to everybody, even my mentees. I always tell them, like, “Make friends, guys!” Because some of those people could be your best friends for the rest of your life.

Lux: It is so true. My closest friend, my best friend…we met in college when we were 17, 18. So yeah, it can be a life-changing bunch of years there, where you’re not only picking a career path and a major, but you’re also meeting people who are going to have a huge role in your life potentially. 

Mia: And you’re also growing so much as a person.

Lux: Totally. 

Mia: That’s why I tell people, like, give yourself grace. Just take the experience and learn from it, rather than get yourself on about it.

Lux: Yeah, and like you said, you learned a lot about yourself, like learning what your limits are. And I think that’s such a huge, huge piece of knowledge, especially at the beginning of college, like, “Okay, I know what my limits are. I know what my boundaries are, too.” And yeah, that’s so important. Well, I think that’s about it for us. Thank you so much for talking with me. I think this is going to be an incredible addition to our collection of first-gen stories. And I think it’s going to inspire a lot of folks, too, to be kind to themselves and to see themselves as a person who is trying really hard and you’re doing your best and it’s okay to be kind to yourself and even to rest sometimes, believe it or not, right?

Mia: Thank you for having me. I’m so flattered that I got asked. 

Lux: I am so glad that we got to talk. Thank you so, so much.