First-generation Students Shine at UC Merced. This Week Celebrates Them

More than six in 10 UC Merced undergraduates are the first in their families to attend a university. The national average for four-year universities is about two in 10.

Opening doors to opportunity for first-generation students is infused into UC Merced's DNA. Young people who had little to no information at home on how to be a young scholar find solid support, a welcoming campus and kindred spirits.

The university is celebrating first-generation students with a whole week of activities, presentations and resources. It starts Monday, Nov. 3, with a First-Generation Week Resource Fair, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Scholars Lane, and an invitation to create vision boards from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Multicultural Center (KL 169)

This first-gen itinerary (don't miss workshops by UC Merced schools on Wednesday and the presentation "Advocating for Yourself: Tools for Success" on Thursday) ties into the national First-Generation College Celebration Day. Held each Nov. 8, it marks the 1965 signing of a federal act designed to make higher education more accessible and affordable.

Paying for tuition was an early concern for Adriana Martinez Diaz. No one in her extended family had applied to college. The application process was mystifying. Then, during an orientation visit to UC Merced, she met a staff adviser who guided her and her mother down avenues to information and support.

"That experience gave me the confidence and community I needed to begin my college journey," said Diaz, a fourth-year student majoring in biology and Spanish.

Narciso Martinez Solorio is a part of UC Merced's support system, serving as a peer mentor in the Calvin E. Bright Success Center. He helps students, including fellow first-gen studens, build confidence, make connections and "truly feel at home."

Solorio, who grew up in Merced, said he struggled early on, battling thoughts that he didn't belong on a university campus.

"Over time, I learned to ask for help," he said. "I learned that I'm stronger and more capable than I thought."

His academics bear that out: The fourth-year student is on target to graduate a semester early with degrees in chemistry and human biology.

"Being a first-gen student isn't easy, but it's powerful," Solorio said. "We figure things out, support each other and keep pushing forward."

Miguel Lopez was a middle schooler in San Joaquin, a Fresno County farming town of 3,600, when he learned of the UC Scholars Early Academic Outreach Program. He signed up and leveraged it into an academic career at UC Merced, capped by a bachelor's degree in political science in 2012.

At UC Merced, he became the first in his family to discover what higher education is about. "I learned I had the ability to be resilient, to determine ways to succeed, and to be willing to get the support I needed to overcome hurdles."

Today, Lopez is a senior consultant for experience research at IBM.

Two UC Merced professors see themselves in alumni such as Lopez and students such as Solorio and Diaz. Rose Scott and Sarah Depaoli, faculty members in the Department of Psychological Sciences, were the first in their families to attend and graduate from a university.