{"id":10308,"date":"2024-11-13T17:29:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T17:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=10308"},"modified":"2024-11-13T17:30:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T17:30:17","slug":"davenport-university-celebrates-first-generation-students-and-removes-barriers-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/13\/davenport-university-celebrates-first-generation-students-and-removes-barriers-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Davenport University celebrates first-generation students and removes barriers to success"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Grand Rapids, MI, November 8, 2024: Davenport University is marking First Generation College Celebration Day on Nov. 8 by recognizing those who are the first in their families to go to college.\u00a0 Davenport is celebrating their unique contributions and pathways to success with on-campus presentations, guest speakers and displays to increase awareness of the ongoing support Davenport offers to help first-generation students succeed.<\/p>\n

Currently, Davenport first-gen students make up 52% of the student body. And as a result of Davenport\u2019s First Generation Student Success Initiative, participating students show strong retention improvements, with 78% continuing to progress toward graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Davenport, we have intentional programming to help our students succeed,\u201d said Jodi Hicks, Davenport director, Student Transitions and Academic Success. \u201cThe barriers first-gen students have are many \u2013 academic, social, financial, and we try to help students in all those areas. Everyone deserves a chance to reach their goals and become who they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryson Huber is a 19-year-old first-generation student from Hudsonville, Mich., studying business administration. When he toured Davenport his senior year of high school, he said the people made his decision easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wanted to get to know me and why I was choosing Davenport,\u201d said Huber. \u201cIt was like talking to a second family. My admissions representative was awesome. I ended up changing from looking into Davenport to making it my final decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for obstacles he\u2019s faced being a first-generation student, he said, \u201cI was fortunate enough I knew a bunch of people and cousins to give me pointers before going. I also dual enrolled at a local community college my senior year, so I kind of got used to the process and the classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brant Brooks, 18, is a first-generation student from Muskegon who\u2019s working toward a bachelor\u2019s degree in cyber defense. He currently plays football for the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like being a first gen, I can show my brother, sister, and everyone else back home, kids that look up to me in Muskegon, that you can be the first to graduate college and do what you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Hicks, \u201cIt\u2019s not just helping this student; it\u2019s helping their family and friends. If this student succeeds, then their family and friends see that success and likely will try to reach those goals themselves. It\u2019s the biggest reward of the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite obstacles, and Brooks has faced many, his advice to others is to keep going. \u201cDon\u2019t let anyone tell you you can\u2019t do it,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cYou need to show them what can be done. You can\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The First-Generation Peer Mentor Program, launched as a pilot in 2019 and now active on all Davenport campuses, pairs first-generation students with peer mentors who provide guidance on navigating college life, coursework, and access to essential resources. This mentorship has proven to reduce student stress, build community, and create a supportive environment that empowers first-generation students to thrive.<\/p>\n

Another offering is Hick\u2019s first-generation ACES learning community class, a first-year success course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ACES class is great,\u201d said Huber. \u201cFor someone not having that much institutional knowledge going into college \u2013 how to access stuff on Blackboard, how a paper is supposed to be written, how to write an email, it helps you understand how a college operates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks shared, \u201cBeing in the ACES class provides a lot of support. You learn more about yourself through personality assessments and such.\u00a0 We\u2019re always learning something new to help us in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Davenport University\u2019s First-Generation Student Success Initiative and upcoming events, please visit www.davenport.edu.<\/p>\n

About Davenport University: Founded in 1866, Davenport is a private, nonprofit university serving about 5,000 students at campuses across Michigan and online. With tuition among the lowest of all private universities in the state, Davenport provides high academic quality, small class sizes, conveniently located campuses, faculty with real-world experience and more than 80 degree and certificate programs, including the new online, bilingual program Casa Latina. For more information, visit: davenport.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand Rapids, MI, November 8, 2024: Davenport University is marking First Generation College Celebration Day on Nov. 8 by recognizing those who are the first in their families to go to college.\u00a0 Davenport is celebrating their unique contributions and pathways to success with on-campus presentations, guest speakers and displays to increase awareness of the ongoing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[228],"class_list":["post-10308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",700,700,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",700,700,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",700,700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",640,640,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",700,700,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",700,700,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u.jpg",500,500,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/davenport-u-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Articles<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Grand Rapids, MI, November 8, 2024: Davenport University is marking First Generation College Celebration Day on Nov. 8 by recognizing those who are the first in their families to go to college.\u00a0 Davenport is celebrating their unique contributions and pathways to success with on-campus presentations, guest speakers and displays to increase awareness of the ongoing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10310,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308\/revisions\/10310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10308"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}