VCU news

By Alexis Finc
VCU College of Humanities and Sciences

An email appeared in Emma Coffey’s inbox the month before her first semester at Virginia Commonwealth University last year. It was from the Department of Political Science, Coffey’s intended major, and it proposed an interesting offer.

She would receive a $500 stipend if she participated in a program for first-year, first-generation students just like her. All that was required was a weekly class, which would provide resources, connections with alumni and professors, and the support of peer mentors.

“I thought the email was a scam. You want to pay me to take a class?” said Coffey, who then realized that as a commuter student, she could use the stipend for gas money while finding community at the same time.

So she signed up, and last fall, she joined a cohort of 15 first-gen, first-year political science students. One was Liz Zepeda-Cantarero, who had also seen the email and had navigated an additional hurdle – her parents are non-native speakers.

“My parents didn’t grow up here, and they don’t really have any clue or idea of what college is supposed to be like. It’s a lot of me having to learn by watching YouTube videos or TikTok tutorials or reading articles, and then having to go back and explain it to them in Spanish,” said Zepeda-Cantarero, who was enticed by the program’s access to professors. 

The course was the brainchild of Alexandra Reckendorf, Ph.D., and Amanda Wintersieck, Ph.D., associate professors in the Department of Political Science. Roughly 30% of political science students identify as first-generation – a statistic representative of VCU as a whole.

“We know that our first-generation students have great need and great potential,” Reckendorf said. “All college students need help getting on the right track in the beginning, but first-gen students don’t have the same experiences and resources as those who have family that has gone through the higher ed journey already.”

Wintersieck was a first-generation college student herself, and that sentiment rang true.

“It’s really difficult to figure out everything on top of managing really complex family dynamics. My first year in college, I was taking care of my aging grandfather. He was dying of emphysema. I was trying to balance driving him to doctor’s appointments while doing well in class, and I felt completely alone,” Wintersieck said. “There’s so much stress. There’s so much pressure. When you’re the first that’s going to break the familial cycle of economic poverty, everybody’s looking at you to do it.”

When the fall 2023 semester began, Coffey and Zepeda-Cantarero quickly realized that their weekly course would be unique. Activities included a scavenger hunt around Richmond, a visit to the state Capitol, breakfast and lunch dates with professors and alumni, tours of Cabell Library, and overviews of VCU resources like the Writing Center, the Career Center and the Cary Street Gym.

“I didn’t know we had a career center that could help me with my résumé and that they did headshots. I didn’t know they had a closet you could check clothes out of if you had an interview,” Coffey said. “The program definitely enlightened me to how much VCU wants to help first-gen students and how many resources there are to help all students, really.”

Zepeda-Cantarero loved the small group lunches with professors and alumni.

“We could ask them questions, and they would talk about their experience in college or how they came to realize what they wanted to do after college,” she said. “I really enjoyed just asking questions and listening to their stories because it made me realize that there’s a lot of different things that you can do with a political science major.” 

There’s so much stress. There’s so much pressure. When you’re the first that’s going to break the familial cycle of economic poverty, everybody’s looking at you to do it.

Amanda Wintersieck, Ph.D.

The class also had three peer mentors – also first-gen students – who met with class members in groups and one-on-one. “It made me so happy to see people like me, young women of color, ready to thrive and succeed in their careers, knowing that they came from backgrounds like mine,” Coffey said. 

Zepeda-Cantarero instantly connected with her peer mentor, Cindy Vigil.

“She’s also a first-generation Hispanic student like me. We connected right away. I would text her anytime that I needed advice or guidance with a specific class or even on how to write an email to a professor to ask them something, because I’m very shy and I get intimidated quite easily,” Zepeda-Cantarero said. “Cindy was kind of like a big sister or role model that first year.”

Great need and great potential

First-generation college students, defined as those whose parents did not complete a four-year degree, face many obstacles in navigating higher ed. Many come from lower-income families and struggle to balance school and work. They may feel unsupported by family or that they don’t belong on campus. Then there is the bureaucracy or what some call the “hidden curriculum” – knowing what resources are available, how to engage with professors, find research projects or apply for internships.

“A syllabus is a great example of the hidden curriculum,” Reckendorf said. “Professors take for granted that many students already know the term syllabus. If they are asked a question, you’ll frequently hear, ‘check the syllabus.’ But for our first-gens, they might not have heard that term before or realize how important the syllabus is in order to do well in the course.”

In 2023 and 2024, Reckendorf and Wintersieck partnered with Jen Clayton, an advisor, and Nathan Bickett, coordinator of undergraduate advising in the Department of Political Science, and applied for and received First-generation Student Success Research Grants from VCU’s Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success division. The foursome worked as a group to flesh out the program and teach the weekly course.

“Faculty and staff often have wonderful ideas of how to create the best learning environment for our students, yet have limited resources that can constrain our ability to see our plans all the way through and to realize them to the best of our ability,” Reckendorf said. “These grants allowed us to take an idea that we’ve had for years and make it happen.” 

Coffey and Zepeda-Cantarero both ended their first year with high grades and a greater connection to VCU and their political science majors. They credit the first-gen, first-year course with their success.

“I did not know anyone else in the political science department until I entered that program. I was kind of scared of not finding a community within VCU,” Coffey said. “But the program ended up being life-changing. I feel so connected to campus and in my classes. I lean on the community to succeed, and I didn’t realize I needed that.”

Reckendorf and Wintersieck said all students in the program made it through their first year at VCU, an accomplishment in itself. Studies have found that first-gen students are more likely to drop out their first year in college.

“Everybody enrolled in the spring semester. We had students come in during that first semester and say that they were thinking about dropping out, and they made it through their first year. That’s a win,” Wintersieck said.

The program ended up being life-changing. I feel so connected to campus and in my classes. I lean on the community to succeed, and I didn’t realize I needed that.

Emma Coffey

Beyond the hard numbers, the students reported increased confidence, gained more knowledge about university resources and became part of a special first-generation community.

“We saw this over and over in the student reflections – that interacting with their peer mentors and our alumni helped the students envision what their lives would be like four or five years from now,” Wintersieck said.

The Department of Political Science is offering the course again in the current academic year with a few tweaks, like more hands-on learning activities and greater faculty involvement. Reckendorf and Wintersieck will also have faculty members from other areas on campus shadow them this fall as the College of Humanities and Sciences hopes to replicate the program in all of its departments and schools. A donor heard about the program and offered to fund it in the future.

Zepeda-Cantarero entered her sophomore year this fall with enthusiasm.

“I’m very proud of my first year, especially not knowing anything about college and having to figure everything out for myself. VCU and Richmond feel a lot more like home,” she said. “I came from a high school that is about 70 or 80 percent first-generation Hispanic students. Going on to college is such a big accomplishment. I’m super-excited for some of them to come here and that I can help them the way that my peer mentors helped me.”