Student view: Learning to lead as a first-generation Spartan

Katherine “Katie” Goble is a communication leadership and strategy major at the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences, transfer student, Vanderploeg Scholar, Transfer Experience Mentorship Program mentor and a first-generation student at Michigan State.

My perception of being a first-generation student has evolved over time, shaped in part by my additional identity as a transfer student here at Michigan State University. We all have those moments when we realize we’re at a disadvantage compared to our peers, and my first “first-gen moment” came during my senior year of high school. I was listening to a presentation from a college representative, and after she finished, I asked her to define some of the foreign terms I had heard: associate degree, bachelor’s degree, scholarship and student loan. At the time, I had no idea what those words meant — and the look of concern on her face made me realize that if I wanted to succeed, I had to educate myself on higher education itself.

I started at Lansing Community College that fall and, in all honesty, I felt lost and alone. It wasn’t that I didn’t have support available to me. The tricky part of being first-gen is that unless someone makes you aware of resources, you don’t always know to look for them.

Fast forward a few years: I transferred to MSU this fall and am now part of the First-Generation Leadership and Innovation Vanderploeg Scholars program, or FLI, one of the many Pathways Persistence initiatives that support students like me, whose identities can make achieving higher education more challenging.

I can say without a doubt that I’m a little jealous of the freshmen in the program because I wish FLI had been available to me during my first years of college. Not only would I have had endless resources at my fingertips, but I also wouldn’t have felt ashamed of being first-gen.

Now that I have made the transition from being a Star to a Spartan, I often think back to that 17-year-old girl who didn’t know the difference between a scholarship and a student loan. She had no idea the challenges she would face, but she also had no idea the strength, persistence and, yes, stubbornness she carried within her to make her dreams a reality.

If I could give any advice to younger me, it would be that you can move mountains. In just a few years, you’ll have conquered college-level courses, feel mostly comfortable with public speaking, restart a marketing club from scratch, and find opportunities that fill your life with joy and take you places you never thought you could reach.

So go on — take the leap. Just imagine where you’ll go.

MSU’s First-Generation Celebration Week is Nov. 3–8. The campuswide celebration uplifts the voices and achievements of first-generation Spartans while promoting belonging and connection across the university. Learn more at firstgen.msu.edu.