THE CYCLE
Breaking the Cycle
As UC’s GEN-1 PROGRAM celebrates its 10th anniversary, students, alumni and staff reflect on the impact and success of the first-of-its-kind initiative
TEPPING ONTO A COLLEGE CAMPUS for the first time as a freshman is exciting and nerve-wracking for any young person.
But there’s an additional challenge for those who are first-generation college students. They don’t have the same point of reference as those whose parents attended a fouryear university and already navigated campus life. They might not have any support at home. And the numbers aren’t on their side. LaShayna Murray can relate. Since her mom had dropped out of high school, receiving her diploma was the top priority in her household. Getting her mom onboard with things like applications and financial aid was a bit of a challenge, but going to college was her dream.
LaShayna Murray can relate. Since her mom had dropped out of high school, receiving her diploma was the top priority in her household. Getting her mom onboard with things like applications and financial aid was a bit of a challenge, but going to college was her dream. “I had to take a lot of ownership of that,” Murray says. “This is what I want to do.”
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She persisted. Murray graduated from Taft High School, a Cincinnati public school, and was accepted to the University of Cincinnati just as a new program dedicated to first-generation students like her was underway.
Founded in response to alarming statistics — the national six-year graduation rate for first-generation, Pell-eligible students was 11 percent in 2008 — UC created the Gen-1 program in 2008. With a focus on successful transition to the university, first-to-second year retention and degree completion, a hallmark aspect of the program was the Gen-1 Theme House, which The New York Times has recognized as the nation’s first living-learning community to focus on first-generation college students. Murray was the program’s first student.
Fourteen others soon joined her in the house that year, living together on one floor of a building in Stratford Heights, a residential property adjacent to UC’s campus.
The rules were tough: Students couldn’t go home overnight or have visitors after curfew the entire first month. They had GPAs to maintain. But it was all meant to help keep the students focused, and they all were in it together.
Program coordinator Judy Mause served as something of a house mother, building relationships with the students and their families to keep them on track for success. Now, years after her official retirement, Gen-1 is still Mause’s passion project.
—Judy Mause
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