Student view: From first-gen to campus leader

Jacob Doss is a senior first-generation student at Michigan State University. He is the president of Tri-Alpha First-Generation Honor Society; Associated Students of Michigan State University representative for the North American Indigenous Student Organization, or NAISO; a First-Generation Leadership and Innovation Vanderploeg Scholar; and works for the Office of Multicultural Enrichment and Advocacy.

As I begin my final year at MSU, I reflect on my first. It is safe to say that I had no clue how to handle college or make the right move at the right time. I was reluctant to get involved, to take hold of what my path might look like as I navigated higher education as a first-gen and Indigenous student. I knew one thing though — that it took a village to get me to college, and I was going to need one to get through it.

I was heavily involved in my community before coming to MSU. I’m a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and originally from northern Michigan, just north of Petoskey. The community is small and close-knit. After arriving at a campus with more than 50,000 students, it was easy to feel overwhelmed and confused about where to start this journey. Luckily, I was quickly referred by a close friend to a new first-generation scholar program called First-Generation Leadership and Innovation Vanderploeg Scholars, or FLI for short.

This quickly turned my college experience around, as the program provided me with a guide. I worked alongside first-gen faculty who got to know who I was, where I was from and understood my experiences when it came to navigating MSU. They encouraged me to get comfortable here at MSU even when I felt that wouldn’t be possible.

My advisors and newfound first-gen support pushed me to get involved on campus and referred me to the North American Indigenous Student Organization, a group that serves to build community and support the well-being of Indigenous students and allies at Michigan State.

The first general assembly meeting I attended at NAISO was like sitting down and taking a breath of fresh air. The humor was familiar and quick. The conversation was fluid and rarely awkward, like I had been there before. I had, except not in a room in the basement of Hubbard Hall, but back in northern Michigan.

In my second year, I served as an ad hoc chair for the organization and later as our student government chair, as well as serving on our powwow committee. I got involved in community events like the annual Powwow of Love, Native Welcome, Native Graduation and more. They were all a reminder that what I left back home was not gone. It had taken a different shape.

The support I found at MSU helped me see bigger things for my path in education that I thought were beyond my reach. One was the chance to study abroad in London, England, before entering my third year, which was all thanks to my FLI advisors and the program’s support.

I got the opportunity to meet incredible people while investigating the U.K.’s election process in the middle of its parliamentary elections. As someone who grew up in poverty, being told college was not even on the radar, the last thing I expected was to use my education to have experiences like this.

Over the last two years, I have become increasingly involved. I joined our ASMSU student government, representing the College of Social Science, and then NAISO. I passed bills to advocate for lowering the cost of materials for students and to improve the livelihoods of Indigenous students. With that, I also joined a friend in founding a first-gen organization called Tri-Alpha First-Generation Honor Society, where I now serve as president. This role has allowed me to share resources and opportunities I had been exposed to, while also meeting and learning from many other first-generation students.

While I close out the remainder of my time here at State, I cannot sugarcoat my experience. NAISO and other identity-based groups face growing challenges put on us by the federal government’s new policies. Cutting our funding affects how we host programs and participate in our communities. On top of being full-time students with jobs, it makes organizing large events and ceremonies like the Powwow of Love incredibly stressful to plan.

Additionally, facing hateful rhetoric toward the Native community by other students during times of recognition has left us feeling unsupported. We persist through these times through community and advocacy, as we will not settle for being diminished or silenced. It reminds me of the importance of why I came to college: to represent my communities in all capacities.