First Generation College Student Celebration

Interactive Panel
First Gen College Undergrads to Doc Students
A storytelling and networking event hosted by the Ed.D. Program at Fresno State

Ayra Alexia
Format Zoom meeting

Date and Time Tentatively: Thursday, February 9, 2022

Time 6-7:30 pm

Audience Kremen Master’s students (frame around resources for grad

students)

Moderator Ayra

Panelists ● Confirmed: Mary Xiong (P12, FtF Cohort 15)

● Confirmed: Maricarmen Figueroa (HE, Online Cohort 7)
● Confirmed: Estevan Parra (HE, FtF Cohort 16)
● Confirmed: Sagan, Jolene (HE, Online Cohort 6)

Bio and pictures of the Panelists-

https://docs.google.com/document/d/
1jWCMzehbxFN3PAuvnB4Qz298ynabczAum9VQrSaahko/edit

Doodle Form - https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/eZVjPw5e

Jolene Sagan - completed doodle
Estevan Parra -
Mary Xiong -
Maricarmen Figueroa-

Purpose To provide Kremen’s students with an opportunity to hear first

generation stories from our doctoral students.

Outcomes - Attendees will learn doctoral students’ journeys as a first

generation college student, including various pathways and
 opportunities for students
- Attendees will learn about the Ed.D. program
- Attendees will be able to network and build community with
others who identify as first generation

Agenda ------ Pre-Event ------

------ Event ------

Introduction
Speaker Introductions
Panel
- Questions
Breakout discussions (P12 and HE)

Outreach Work with other Kremen departments to put out flyer and info

Notes Breakout rooms to network with each other - find support with the
panelists and other participants

Draft email - introduction, pitch of the events

Timeline
September 15 - Email invitations drafted, other panelists to ask for

October 5 - Confirm Speakers

- Send speakers panel questions
- Collect speaker bios and photos
- Registration Form

October 13 - Advertise, have flyer ready

- Promote to faculty (Varaxy)
- Promote to Kremen department DAAs
- Post on Social Media

November 8 - Event

Email Draft - Ask if want to be on the Panel

Hello,
My name is Ayra Agluba and I’m the Graduate Assistant for the Ed.D Program at Fresno
State, and I am writing on behalf of the program. We are planning to host a ‘First
Generation College Student Celebration Interactive Panel’ on Zoom on the evening of
November 8th 2022, and we hope to provide an opportunity to gather together, form
connections and learn from one another’s experiences of being a first-generation
college student.

We would love to invite you to be a part of the panel for this celebration. The purpose of
this event is to provide Kremen master’s students with an opportunity to hear different
paths and stories from our doctoral students who identify as first-generation college
students. I hope that you are interested in joining our effort to celebrate the success of
and show support for first-gen students.

If you are interested we will provide further details, please let me know by September
22nd.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions!

Sincerely,

Email Draft - Agreed to participate on the Panel

Hello NAME,

Thank you for considering being part of this panel, this is an email to confirm your
attendance for this event. Just to let you know again, we are holding a First Generation
College Student Celebration Interactive Panel’ on Zoom on the evening of November 8th
2022. We will send you a calendar invite with the confirmed time, as we get closer to the
date we will send you questions to prepare you prior to the event as well as the agenda.
In the meantime, would you please send us your Bio and a photo of yourself. Thank you!

We are so pleased that you have agreed to speak on our panel, and we're looking
forward to this event!

Sincerely,

Panel Questions:
 ● Introduction. Tell us about yourself and your professional role?
○ What year are you in the program, cohort (online or FtF)
● Education Journey. Tell us about your educational journey. What factors
influenced the decision to pursue your career?
○ How does your experience in graduate school differ from your experience
as an undergraduate?
○ What made you decide to go to grad school?
● Doctoral Education. What led you to aspire to get a doctoral degree?
○ What support did you have and do you have now?
○ What made you decide to pursue the Ed.D at Fresno State?
● What advice would you give first generation students?

Break out room - P12/Higher Education

- Story telling (discussions) - participants share their own experiences and story
- Activity
- What obstacles have you experienced as a first generation student and
graduate student?
- What does it mean to be a first generation college student to you?
-

Draft Agenda
● Introduction by Dr. Ignacio - 2min
● Introduction to the event (purpose) - 2min
● Introduction to the panel - 5 min
● Panel questions - 50 min
● Breakout Rooms - 30 min

Presentation -
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFaEGFpnNA/6FDDH78ynwQhlkEHU-ZwCA/edit?
utm_content=DAFaEGFpnNA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_s
ource=sharebutton
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFaEGFpnNA/6FDDH78ynwQhlkEHU-ZwCA/edit?
utm_content=DAFaEGFpnNA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_s
ource=sharebutton
Event Script -

6:00-6:05ish
Introduction - Welcome Possible - Dr. Hernandez..
Hello and thank you to everyone for joining us today. I am Dr. Ignacio Hernández,
Associate Professor and Director of the Fresno State EdD Program. On behalf of the
Department of Educational Leadership and Fresno State EdD Program I am grateful you
chose to join us for tonight’s webinar as we set aside this time to celebrate the success of
first-generation college students, staff and faculty who are part of our community
leaders and scholars. Tonight’s event was developed to acknowledge the determination
and accomplishments of Fresno State’s first-generation students. Our university
continues to enroll large numbers of first-generation students, comprising about 65-
70% of all incoming students over the last 5 years. The four students you will meet
tonight have navigated through undergraduate to masters and now to the doctoral phase
of their educational journeys as first-generation students and we hope to advance an
asset-based narrative about their experiences and outcomes. Thank you all for sharing
your brilliance with us tonight. I’d like to turn the mic over to our EdD Program
Graduate Assistant, and HEAL master’s degree student, Ayra Agluba who will moderate
the webinar. Ayra, it’s all yours.

6:05
Ayra -
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is having a great evening so far, thank you all for
joining and taking your time to be here with us! My name is Ayra Agluba and I am the
Graduate Assistant for the Ed.D Program. A little bit about myself, I am currently a first
year student in the Higher Education Administration Leadership (HEAL) Masters
Program here at Fresno State.

The purpose of this event is to… uplift first-generation college students who are
currently in the Ed.D. program and highlight their individual journeys; and we hope to
provide students an opportunity to tell their own story and feel empowered to continue
to pursue their educational and professional goals

To provide further background, the US Department of Education National Center of

Education Statistics found that in 2016 first-generation college graduates reported a
lower expected level of educational attainment than continuing-generation graduates.
The Center for First-Generation Student Success at the National Association of Student
Personnel Administrators provided a fact sheet that includes the image on this slide and
shows that first-generation college students are less likely to pursue graduate degrees.

Furthermore, the National Science Foundation’s annual Survey of Earned Doctorates

found that in 2021, 15% of earned doctorates were earned by first-generation college
students whereas 72% of earned doctorates were earned by continuing generation
students, or students whose parents achieved a bachelor’s degree or higher. These
statistics show that there is a need for programming like this for first generation
students to gain inspiration and motivation to pursue their educational and professional
goals and understand the importance of telling your own story.
https://firstgen.naspa.org/files/dmfile/FactSheet-03.pdf
nsf23300-tab001-014.xlsx (source:
- Stories of real students!, allowing to share your own story,

We hope that in the end you will learn about each panelist/Ed.D. students’ journeys as a
first generation college student, including various pathways, resources, and
opportunities for students. Hoping that each and everyone will use this as an
opportunity to network and build a community with others who identify as first gen
students.

Decades of research has demonstrated that students who have a strong sense of
belonging at their institutions are more likely to be successful, especially true for
students from lower-income and first-generation backgrounds and communities of
color. A “sense of belonging” for college students can be broadly interpreted as a
subjective perception of inclusion, connectedness, and integration. With this event we
hope to cultivate a sense of belonging to first-gen students in this campus. We hope that
this event creates a positive dialogue within this community, and using this as an
opportunity to learn how to make new contacts and gain access to diverse professional
networks which can help you build social currency, advocate for yourself, and find
mentors who can possibly advance your career.

To give you an overview of the event, we want to first introduce our student panelist
then move into panelist questions to get to know more about our panelist. Then we are
going to spend half of the time in breakout rooms where the Panelists will moderate
conversations and everyone is encouraged to share their own stories and experiences as
a first-generation college student in their group discussion. Then in the end we will
move into closing remarks.

● Agenda
○ Panelist questions
○ Break-out rooms
○ Closing remarks
6:13
It is an honor to introduce our student panelists tonight, we have Mary Xiong,
Maricarmen Figueroa, Jolene Sagan, and Estevan Parra. Since a big theme of this event
is telling your own story, we wanted the panelists to introduce themselves. Tell us about
yourself and your professional role? And What year are you in the program, cohort
(online or FtF)
- Panelist Answers
Thank you panelist for being here today and taking your time to introduce yourself!
Growing up in a single immigrant parent household, I did not know higher education
existed as a field until I came to college. Despite this, it was surprisingly the field that
has had the largest impact on my college experience. Being a first-generation college
student has been my most important experience so far, it has given me the right
direction going forward on my goals as it relates to higher education. I know that my
power source is my first-generation status, this identity helped me seek out others and
tap into their personal power source.

Possible - Follow up questions based on the panelist answers

As for the Panelist…Tell us about your educational journey. What factors influenced the
decision to pursue your career?
- Panelist Answers
6:24
Thank you all for sharing, another question is How does your experience in graduate
school differ from your experience as an undergraduate? And What made you decide to
go to grad school?
- Panelist Answers
6:35
Even though your journeys are different, one thing that you all have in common is that
you all are in the Ed.D Program… What led you to aspire to get a doctoral degree? Tell
us about your process?
○ Did any of you go through a process of deciding between Ph.d v. Ed.D, why
did you not pursue Ph.D?
○ What support did you have and do you have now?
○ What made you decide to pursue the Ed.D at Fresno State?
- Panelist Answers
6:46
Thank you all for such great answers… Before we go out to our breakout rooms, we have
one last question for our panelist…
● What advice would you give first generation students?
- Panelist Answers
You have all been so open and willing to share your knowledge with us. Thank you for
making yourself available. Your advice was just what we needed to hear, you shed a lot
of light on the different avenues open to all of us. Now, Alexia Pimentel, our Program
Advisor will be introducing our interactive activity for tonight's event.

7:00
Alexia - Breakout rooms
○ Community guidelines - make space take space, “I” statements, respect
Panelists moderate conversations in each breakout room. Attendees are encouraged to
share their own stories and experiences as a first-generation college student in this
group discussion. Each room will have a jamboard with questions. Attendees will be
asked to write their answers on the jamboard, and then given the opportunity to share
out. Spend approximately 8 minutes per question (ex. 3 min write on jamboard, 5 min
share out).

In the end, each panelist shares program evaluation links and contact information in
each breakout room and can encourage other attendees to leave their contact
information as well for support.

Maricarmen -
https://jamboard.google.com/d/1CwNxoYupaHzZzLraT_T6tTLgqyoIMKjiSGJtCVIB43w/
edit?usp=sharing
Estevan - https://jamboard.google.com/d/1Q-qKxIySSclsG3mf8Y-
3ux8PCT483VQDTGeoJPKKzDU/edit?usp=sharing
Jolene -
https://jamboard.google.com/d/1ZhH8r71lvWr4Zb6rabS1wepBkSd3fCjqeRuRRrJXmfs/
edit?usp=sharing
Mary - https://jamboard.google.com/d/1U9UNQhy8gFcUn_xQ6wdCIuF59Wu3E-
1lLfy9D6Rz7zs/edit?usp=sharing

Q1 - 7:03 - 7:10
Q2 - 7:11 - 7:18
Q3 - 7:18 - 7:23
Wrap Up - 7:23 - 7:25

7:25
Ayra
Closing remarks
- One person from each breakout room briefly share one thing you took away from
your group conversation
● Thank you for attending this event. We appreciate your time and participation.
We hope that you gained and learned something from our panelist and most
importantly created a community and connected with other first-gen students!
Thank you to our panelists for giving their personal time to share their stories
and experience, we truly appreciate your commitment to creating a wider
community within first gen students. Just a reminder please fill out the
evaluation form at the end of this event, we will send the panelist contact
 information to your emails. Once again, Thank you for coming! We hope that
you have a great rest of your night!

Evaluation Link -
https://fresnostate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bgcRpjvJaLBUxoO
7:30! 🏁

Please Fwd: First Generation Doctoral Students Panel - February 9 @ 6pm on Zoom
Announcement:

Join us and spread the word about our interactive panel event on Thursday, February
9th 2023 from 6-7:30pm! This panel features four of our own current Doctor of
Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership students.

The title of our event is "First Generation College Undergrads to Doc Students: A
Storytelling and Networking event hosted by the Ed.D Program at Fresno State."
We want to provide a space for our students to share their experiences navigating
higher education as first generation college students who have persisted from the
beginning, as undergraduates, to now, as doctoral students.

Attendees will learn about doctoral student panelists' journeys as a first-generation

college student, including various education career pathways and opportunities. They
will be given the chance to network and build community with others who identify as first
generation.

The event is taking place via Zoom, Please RSVP at bit.ly/EdDFirstGenPanel

Attached is the poster for the event!

Panelists:
Maricarmen Figueroa - (figgy_mary96@mail.fresnostate.edu)
Higher Education Online Cohort 7 student
Director of Student Activities, Clovis Community College

Estevan Parra - (estevanp@csufresno.edu)

Higher Education Face-to-Face Cohort 16 student
Director, Upward Bound Programs, Fresno State

Jolene Sagan - (jsagan80@mail.fresnostate.edu)

Higher Education Online Cohort 6 student
Lead Case Manager, Dean of Students Office & CARES Team, CSU Long Beach
Mary Xiong - (xyoojmary@mail.fresnostate.edu)
P-12 Face-to-Face Cohort 15 student
School Counselor, American Union Elementary

Post Event Email -

Dear (NAME),

Thank you for attending our event: “First Gen College Undergrads to Doc Students: A
storytelling and networking event hosted by the Ed.D. Program at Fresno State.” We
appreciate your participation and engagement in making this event a success.

As we mentioned, we would love if you can fill out our evaluation survey. Your
feedback is invaluable and will help us plan future events:
https://fresnostate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bgcRpjvJaLBUxoO

We shared some data in our presentation. If you are interested in checking out the
sources. Links are provided below:
https://firstgen.naspa.org/
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23300/data-tables
https://csusuccess.dashboards.calstate.edu/public/csu-by-the-numbers/student-populations

Our panelists’ contact information is below:

Maricarmen Figueroa -
Higher Education Online Cohort 7 student
Director of Student Activities, Clovis Community College

Estevan Parra -
Higher Education Face-to-Face Cohort 16 student
Director, Upward Bound Programs, Fresno State

Jolene Sagan -
Higher Education Online Cohort 6 student
Lead Case Manager, Dean of Students Office & CARES Team, CSU Long Beach

Mary Xiong -
P-12 Face-to-Face Cohort 15 student
School Counselor, American Union Elementary

Don’t forget, we would love to hear from you on our social media! Our program is
@EdDFresnoState on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Thank you again for showing up with your authentic selves.

Sincerely,

Ayra Agluba
Graduate Assistant
Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership
Kremen School of Education and Human Development
Fresno State

Resources to share

Geneva L. Sarcedo (2022) Using Narrative Inquiry to Understand Faculty Supporting

First-Generation, Low-Income College Students of Color, Journal of First-generation
Student Success, 2:3, 127-142, DOI: 10.1080/26906015.2022.2086087

Ives, J., & Castillo-Montoya, M. (2020). First-generation college students as academic

learners: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 90(2), 139-178.