Adrienne Bryant-Assistant Director of the Office of Student Success Programs and Services
Her first opportunity to work with students in need came when she worked for the Clayton County Juvenile program. She was the programs manager for a girls group. The ladies from the group came from families that are called high-risk families. They had low socio-economic status, did not do well in school, and had lot of problems in their communities. She had to teach them life skills and take them on college tours. Because of her work, the girls were introduced to 2-year community colleges and learned about trade and technical schools.
This reminded me of the community colleges and trade schools clustered near the local elementary and high schools in my hometown of Clarkston. which is one of the largest refugee communities in the country, with the majority of its students being first-generation.
The girls never even thought they had so many options as they did not have any prior exposure to them. That experience ignited Adrienne's
passion for her line of work/working with students who are at a disadvantage because of their socioeconomic status.
In her words:
"I realized that was something that I really loved to do. Although I have worked in other settings, I now work in higher education, mostly because I can directly relate to the challenges of being a college student."
According to her, those major challenges college students, especially FG students, face are:
1. Social
2. Financial
3. Emotional
Social
First-generation students do not feel like they fit in with their peers. They tend to struggle with assimilating into the Emory Campus Life. Quite a few students come and say that they struggle with being a minority on this campus as they have to explain themselves a lot since their peers do not understand the circumstance that they come from.
A lot of times, they feel isolated and struggle to connect.
Financial
The majority of them cannot afford to rent most of their textbooks. This is especially true the more classes the student takes. However, the Office of Student Success Programs and Services run a textbook lending library where students can rent out textbooks, which had been donated by previous students, for free, potentially saving hundreds of dollars each year.
This removes some of the financial burden that the students must face as financial aid tends to cover mostly tuition. However, there are also other financial obligations that they have but cannot meet.
Some of these obligations are:
FG students tent to come from families where they are really important for financial reasons as at least one parent may not be working, putting them into financial hardship. For some, their financial aid is used to support the household.
Emotional
FG students tend to feel pressure to do well as the family depends on them since they are the first ever in the family to attend college. Therefore, their motivation to succeed is higher. On the other hand, others do not feel much of the same need as college to them is more about becoming independent to work for themselves. In short, for FG students, family is the main priority while for others, self-development is theirs.
History and Progress
Adrienne Bryant is the Assistant Director of the Office of Student Success Programs and Services. Typically, she helps to oversee programs and facilitate many seminars. She links students to the many resources available on Emory's campus as she is here to provide support and address any challenge or barrier that may arise with individual students emotionally, financially, or academically. One of such roles is to facilitate the 1915 scholars program.
The 1915 scholars program for FLI students, named after the year Emory moved its main campus to Atlanta, alleviates barriers faced by that population by providing peer, graduate, alumni, and faculty mentors that create a family cluster. It was first established by Dr. Livingston in 2013 before Adrienne Slaughter took over the program when she left. Afterwards, the program grew rapidly. Currently, the 2016-17 cohort is the second cohort. Other programs that she connects students to, regardless of FG status, are the Food Pantry to combat the food security in Emory, CAPS for those in need of mental health support, and more.
Historically, Emory has been a college that consists almost exclusively of students who are able to pay out of pocket. For that reason, the data on FG students is relatively young. However, her office is in the currently processing the data. Not all of the FG students on campus have been identified yet at this point. Currently, only 16 first-year students were accepted into the program.
I then asked her if there are any plans for expanding the programs and services offered to FG students
She responded by saying that there are always plans for expansion. Even today, the programs are still growing to provide students with many opportunities to ensure success. They are still in the process of finding other ways to grow this program.
She had a meeting with FLIP (First-Generation Low-Income Partnership) a month ago (November) in order to get an idea of what students like to see happen with the space at the new Campus Life Center. Some of the desires expressed by the students include a desire for a place to study, eat, and have entertainment.
This reminded me of the community colleges and trade schools clustered near the local elementary and high schools in my hometown of Clarkston. which is one of the largest refugee communities in the country, with the majority of its students being first-generation.
The girls never even thought they had so many options as they did not have any prior exposure to them. That experience ignited Adrienne's
passion for her line of work/working with students who are at a disadvantage because of their socioeconomic status.
In her words:
"I realized that was something that I really loved to do. Although I have worked in other settings, I now work in higher education, mostly because I can directly relate to the challenges of being a college student."
According to her, those major challenges college students, especially FG students, face are:
1. Social
2. Financial
3. Emotional
Social
First-generation students do not feel like they fit in with their peers. They tend to struggle with assimilating into the Emory Campus Life. Quite a few students come and say that they struggle with being a minority on this campus as they have to explain themselves a lot since their peers do not understand the circumstance that they come from.
A lot of times, they feel isolated and struggle to connect.
Financial
The majority of them cannot afford to rent most of their textbooks. This is especially true the more classes the student takes. However, the Office of Student Success Programs and Services run a textbook lending library where students can rent out textbooks, which had been donated by previous students, for free, potentially saving hundreds of dollars each year.
This removes some of the financial burden that the students must face as financial aid tends to cover mostly tuition. However, there are also other financial obligations that they have but cannot meet.
Some of these obligations are:
- Health-Many are not able to afford to see specialists or pay for medication.
- Miscellaneous expenses-Some may live off-campus, so transportation, groceries, and other household items must be considered. This is especially true for the upperclassmen.
FG students tent to come from families where they are really important for financial reasons as at least one parent may not be working, putting them into financial hardship. For some, their financial aid is used to support the household.
Emotional
FG students tend to feel pressure to do well as the family depends on them since they are the first ever in the family to attend college. Therefore, their motivation to succeed is higher. On the other hand, others do not feel much of the same need as college to them is more about becoming independent to work for themselves. In short, for FG students, family is the main priority while for others, self-development is theirs.
History and Progress
Adrienne Bryant is the Assistant Director of the Office of Student Success Programs and Services. Typically, she helps to oversee programs and facilitate many seminars. She links students to the many resources available on Emory's campus as she is here to provide support and address any challenge or barrier that may arise with individual students emotionally, financially, or academically. One of such roles is to facilitate the 1915 scholars program.
The 1915 scholars program for FLI students, named after the year Emory moved its main campus to Atlanta, alleviates barriers faced by that population by providing peer, graduate, alumni, and faculty mentors that create a family cluster. It was first established by Dr. Livingston in 2013 before Adrienne Slaughter took over the program when she left. Afterwards, the program grew rapidly. Currently, the 2016-17 cohort is the second cohort. Other programs that she connects students to, regardless of FG status, are the Food Pantry to combat the food security in Emory, CAPS for those in need of mental health support, and more.
Historically, Emory has been a college that consists almost exclusively of students who are able to pay out of pocket. For that reason, the data on FG students is relatively young. However, her office is in the currently processing the data. Not all of the FG students on campus have been identified yet at this point. Currently, only 16 first-year students were accepted into the program.
I then asked her if there are any plans for expanding the programs and services offered to FG students
She responded by saying that there are always plans for expansion. Even today, the programs are still growing to provide students with many opportunities to ensure success. They are still in the process of finding other ways to grow this program.
She had a meeting with FLIP (First-Generation Low-Income Partnership) a month ago (November) in order to get an idea of what students like to see happen with the space at the new Campus Life Center. Some of the desires expressed by the students include a desire for a place to study, eat, and have entertainment.