Rebecca Meyers | Lifestyle editor
Western has a wide diversity of students from different kinds of backgrounds. Some come from a family of college graduates, while others are the first generation to take on the challenge. While the college experience can sometimes be boiled down in pop culture as a universal experience, the reality is that these experiences can be as diverse as the people.
For first generation college students like Madison Gaylin, a junior education major, there are some similarities and some differences between students who came from college-educated families. One similarity, in her case, is that she had high hopes from a young age.
“I decided when I was little that I wanted to be a teacher,” Gaylin said. “Everyone said it would be hard work and there wouldn’t be much money in it, but I was set on it.”
Gaylin has some other members of her family that attended college, but not in her immediate family. She attended a community college where she got her AA, then transferred to Western. The transfer took her away from home, the small town of Clatskanie east of Astoria, for the first time.
For many students, even though college and their career path was ultimately a choice that they should be deciding, there was always an unspoken pressure to get a degree. This is especially true when one or both parents have a degree. For Gaylin, there wasn’t pressure so much as a hope or an expectation.
“I think it always came down to me wanting to go (to college),” she said when asked about the pressure many students feel from their families. “If I hadn’t, there might have been some disappointment — but not anger.”
She also said this internal, rather than external, motivation helped keep her focus when things got rough and she considered dropping out.
“I just had to keep telling myself to keep going,” Gaylin added.
Along with many other students at Western, Gaylin is now on her way to a career in education. While her experience isn’t shared by everyone, she can relate to those who have worked long and hard to achieve a lifelong dream as a first-generation college student.
Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Meyers
