Students find themselves first in line
First-generation college students are looking to improve their future
The date is always on the mind of Rosa Teus.
May 8, 2020.
That's the day when she'll set personal history.
“It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it,” Teus said. “We've been through so much, and this is just the first step.
“But it feels amazing.”
Teus, 26, is about to become the first in her family to graduate with a degree next spring as s he earns her associate degree from Oklahoma City Community College.
In Oklahoma, more than 40% of undergraduate students are first-generati on—the first in their family to attend college at any level.
Studies estimate that more than half off all college students nationwide are the family pioneers when it comes to higher education.
For Teus, her first two years of college are just the first stage of her plan eventually to earn a master's degree in psychology.
But as the first in her family to attempt i t, the work she had t o put i n and t he f ear she had to overcome just to get to this point was almost overwhelming.
“I came i nto this blind,” Teus said. “I'm a minority, I'm a woman, I have a child and a single mother and I can barely afford to pay my car some months.
“What am I doing here at college?”
Ready to go
While it took Teus some time to realize she wanted to be the first in her family to get a degree, for others it's a lifelong goal.
Justin Wilson knew he needed to impress on the court to earn any kind of scholarship. As a senior at Millwood last year, the 6-foot-7 center averaged more than eight rebounds per game while also chipping in nearly 10 points a night as Millwood made a run all the way to the state title game.
His performance was enough to land him a scholarship to Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa.
As the first in his family to go to college, Wilson said it was difficult knowing exactly how to prepare.
“Every time I thought I was ready, something else popped up for me to do,” Wilson said. “I'm ready to go though.”
Wilson said his granny helped him fill out all his paperwork for housing and classes while his coach at NOC gave him a workout schedule to keep before moving.
The hour and 20 minute trip to Tonkawa from Oklahoma City will be the farthest he's ever been from home.
“Going to college and playing ball has been my dream forever,” Wilson said. “Everybody is very proud and everybody is supportive. They are ready to see me take that next step.”
Help available
At OCCC, a handful of students hang outside the office of Tracey Morales. As the coordinator for Students Connecting with Mentors for Success, a program aiming to provide guidance for firstgeneration students, Morales works with about 75 students.
Morales said mentors help students navigate enrollment and course management, and teach study habits.
“We want to make sure they know t hey are not al one,” Moral es said .“It can be scary not knowing how college works and so we want to always help. We want them to feel welcome here.”
The odds appear stacked against first-generation college students.
Recent studies show that first-generation students are more than twice as likely to leave school within three years than students whose parents have a bachelor' s degree, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. And only 48% of first-gen students are on track to graduate three years after enrollment.
The SCMS program had 18 graduates last semester.
Setting an example
Teus isn' t worried about the statistics. She is eager to be one of the next to graduate from the program.
When she graduated high school in 2011, she was nine months pregnant as she walked across the stage in cap and gown.
Neither of her parents made it past elementary school and college never seemed even a remote possibility.
After her son. Elijah, was born on the last day of school of her senior year at Aztec Charter School, Teus started working as a nail tech by day and a waitress at Waffle House at night.
“Growing up I was never encouraged to get good grades,” Teus said. “I never felt like I was that smart and so I had the attitude of `Why try?'
“Then I had Elijah and people told me it was even more impossible.”
But after going through the grind of two j obs for a few years, Teus wanted more.
She enrolled at OCCC in 2018 after being encouraged to do so by her fiance's family and got involved with Morales and the SCMS program.
She took classes only while her son was in school and often brings Elijah along to campus while she studies.
“We do homework together,” she said. “He needs to see me push myself so he can know that he has to push himself in the future.”
Teus is excited by her future now. She likes to think about how she'll use her degree for either art therapy or motivational speaking.
She's even thought about working with first-generation students herself.
But what excites her t he most is the future for her son.
“The things I' ve experienced and the knowledge I've gained will be things I get to show him and help him through later on,” she said. “He's the main reason because before I am anything, I am a mother.
“I'm going to be great and I'm going to do great things.”