USC Social
First-generation college students can meet classmates, faculty at social tonight
Kristine Gilchrist-Minasidis knows what it’s like to come to a big university without family and friends to give her insider’s advice. When she arrived at BU in 1990, she was the first member of her family to go to college, and she found the idea of asking faculty for help intimidating.
“I was nervous about reaching out to resources,” she says. “I approached a problem as something I had to deal with on my own.”
Now the senior associate director of the University Service Center (USC), Gilchrist-Minasidis (CAS’94) is making sure that other first-generation college students know that asking for help is welcomed. The USC will host a social for them on Wednesday, September 23. They’ll meet other first-generation students, as well as faculty and staff who can discuss the academic, social, and financial resources available to any BU student.
“We say now that the successful students reach out and take advantage of the resources offered,” says Gilchrist-Minasidis. “And if you put information out there for first-generation students, it’s also stuff that’s useful for the whole population.”
Statistically, first-generation students struggle with the same issues — such as homesickness and academic overload — that other first-year college students do, says Denise Mooney, USC director. But they often don’t have a parent or another family member who can provide advice on how to navigate a university. Gilchrist-Minasidis remembers thinking that a low grade in one of her courses simply meant that the subject was too hard for her — she had no idea that students could ask about tutoring or about getting extra help from professors.
Mooney stresses that first-generation students aren’t necessarily in need of more help than their peers. The purpose of this week’s social, she says, is simply to ensure that if needs arise, students know where to go.
“Part of what we intend in doing this is making some level of familiarity, and letting them know that we’re real people,” Mooney says.
The First-Generation Students Social takes place tonight from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Howard Thurman Center in the lower level of the George Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Ave. To register, e-mail usc@bu.edu or call 617-358-1818.
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