This week, the University of Wisconsin-Superior is celebrating its first-generation students as a part of First Generation Student Day.

First-Generation Student Day, celebrated nationally on November 8, was created to recognize the accomplishments of all first gen students and alumni.

To be a first-generation college student means that the students’ parents or guardians have not earned a four-year college degree. 

Nationally, 54 percent of undergraduate students are first-generation, and almost half – 46 percent – of students at UW-Superior are first-gen students. According to the FirstGen Forward site, only 20 percent of first-generation students had earned a bachelor’s degree compared to 49 percent of their continuing-generation peers.

“We celebrate by recognizing the 46 percent of first-gen students here at UWS and our first-gen professionals as part of our UWS team, in addition to providing statistics and resources to aid in supporting first-gen students,” said Angie Hugdahl, Upward Bound program director and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness in Superior (GEARS) grant manager at UW-Superior.

UW-Superior offers specific programs which work with first-generation students such as its TRIO Programs. These federally funded programs through the Department of Education are designed to advocate and serve participants from various backgrounds, including first-generation participants. In total, there are hundreds of TRIO Programs nationwide and UW-Superior is fortunate to host three of them: Upward Bound, Student Support Services/Yellowjacket Achievers, and the McNair Scholars Program.

“The opportunity to recognize first-generation students and first-generation professionals across our campus and in the community is exciting,” said Marsha Lue, Ed.D., Yellowjacket Achievers director at UW-Superior. “It can be difficult to navigate new systems in school or at a job, as a first-gen individual; however, with more people who understand what it means to be first-gen, the more advocacy can be in place for first-gen students and first-gen professionals.” 

First-generation students at UW-Superior can also seek services in the Veteran and Non-traditional Student Center, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Gender Equity Resource Center, the Indigenous Cultures Resource Center, the Link Center, the Educational Success Center, the Writing Center, among many more.