Well, Marketus we already know each other, 
but for those who are watching
I'm going to introduce myself
I'm Anita Casavantes Bradford
and I'm an associate professor of History and 
Chicano Latino Studies here at UCI
I am the first in my family to go to university
and the first woman in my family to finish high school
Okay, so I'm Marketus Presswood
I am a third-year graduate student 
in the history department
I study modern China in African-American history
I am also a first-generation college student
I am the first person in my family to receive
a four-year degree from a four-year college
Also the first person to go to graduate school
So yeah, a lot of firsts for my family as well
So, we're going to talk a little bit 
about your experience as
an undergrad being a first-gen student
but also more about how you decided to
go to grad school and what was that what
was it like for you so tell me when you
first realize that you wanted to go to
college I think I realized that pretty
late in this was some time in high
school my mother though was I think she
had a plan for me very early on right I
didn't even know about she was very big on
education at that point she had only
received a high school diploma but she
also knew that she wanted something more
for for me, my brother, my sister
right so she's very engaged with our our
education and our learning I mean every
time you know she would always tell
teachers hey if you're having problems with my kids
here's my number give me a call I mean
she made it a point to come to the
school very frequently I mean so people
knew that, ok this parent is engaged in
so we knew that a lot was expected from
us right and I guess when I was in high
school I had one teacher biology teacher
who was a graduate of Morehouse College
and he actually paid for me to go to
visit the campus
one spring and I went down and visit for
a new student orientation not new student
orientation but potential students who
wanted to go and see the campus he paid
my way to go down but my plane ticket
you know the hotel all this other stuff
arranged for me to meet people and other
students and when I went down you know
after that two, three day period I was
like yeah this is this is where I'm
coming I'm coming here and yeah that's
where it started for me I think where I
knew what was going to college. And is that where you did your undergrad then at Morehouse?  I did I did.
So how was that for you, that's a
historically black college, right?  Exactly.
So how was it for you being a first gen
student at morehouse?  It was interesting
because people who like to think of
HBCUs as these monolithic institutions
and they're not it's actually a very
very diverse place more so in terms of
like Social economics right I mean so
you know my first year Morehouse I'm
coming into contact with people who are
not just from working class black
families and we're talking about you
know black republicans you know you know
kids whose parents are like
paying for school writing checks for
school right, I mean so I met a lot of
black people who were outside of my
circle right, I'm coming from the inner
city of Chicago to see all these upper
middle class black folk and just a
different way of being right the their
their lives are different the stories
they they talked about they were different
from my stories and so just a really
diverse group of young men and very
smart very intelligent I mean already
read half the books some of them you know
when we get to class and so it was intimidating you know I was the first gen
student you know my high school as
much as they helped it didn't prepare me
for the rigors of college right so it
took a couple years to really get
adjusted in to really start to be able
not only to just catch up and then to
compete
with those those students but I think
Morehouse was a very safe space for
that to happen right because a lot of
the students were very encouraging you
know and hey did you do your work your homework, do you need some help with that,  let me help you with that
we used to have this saying "are you tight"
and what we meant was hey
are you ready for that presentation are
you ready for the homework are you ready
for the test I mean so everyone was very
encouraging there is a very good sense
of community and comradery. So in those
first couple of years as you're
adjusting you're trying to figure out
how to be a student what what did you
learn what worked for you what helped you
to succeed? I realized that I had to put
more time in you know I wasn't spending
enough time with the material.  I wasn't
talking about it enough you know to
really let it sink in, so I think what I
realized what I had to do was that I had
to swallow my pride and I had to learn
to depend on other people as well and to
get help right there are these spaces where
you can go get help and to to be able to
be vulnerable and admit that there are
things I don't know and I need some help
and so this is a very safe space for
that there are a lot of people who were
very helpful in that process so what I think I learned.
What about your relationships with
professors?  So small liberal arts college
right and you know at that time I think
a little less than 3,000 students so
there was a pretty good ratio you know
student-teacher ratio rate so it was no
problem to go to a professor's office
hours
some students actually went out to a bar
drinking with professors I mean that was
quite common and I mean they're very
approachable very accessible so I think
a lot of students have very good
relationships with professors on campus
you know that's usual for a small liberal arts college right it was no different than
another
you know small colleges of that size. So
UCI obviously is very different.
Extremely different. We're such a
big University UCI has a fairly small
black undergraduate student population
about 50% of our african-american
students undergrads are also first gen
so what would your sort of words of
advice be four african-american first
gen kids at UCI confronting a totally
different environment from the one that
you dealt with as an undergrad? I think
the first thing is know yourself you
know I mean you know what you need help
you know what you need help with and you
have to again be humble and be willing
to go and find those safe spaces where
you can get some help but that requires
you you know again you know being able
to admit to yourself that I have to get
help in these spaces right and I have to
go and find where I, and that's probably the
problem with UCI is that it's so big you
don't know where to go to look for this
kind of help and assistance right so you
have to figure out ok, who are my
allies and who's going to help me with
this navigate this process right and that
can be the daunting task for most
undergraduate right.  So how do you find
that speaking more in specific terms?
I think first you have to network with
other students particularly students who
are upperclassmen and I think you have
to find a network of professors who have
a reputation for giving students time
right and they're here and they're very
helpful and very useful and they have a
passion for mentorship and so you have
to find those spaces find those people
and gradually start to develop this
network well even if they don't can't
help you directly they can you know us
directly to a place or someone that
can help you and I think that's
important to realize very early early on
to start you know that network building
that network right and and I guess
the hardest thing for a lot of
undergraduate is that someone when
you're in high school people told you
what to do
people you know that you need to do this,
this, and this now no one is telling you what to
do and you have to do these things on
your own and that can also be a
challenge for some students right?  So Melissa  who was here in the interview before you she
said that one of the strategies that she
uses is when she clicks with a professor
she would email that professor and say
hey who are other professors that you
think I would like do you think that
would be a good approach?  I think that's
one approach that's definitely one
approach I think it depends on the
student for me my first year I think I
took the opposite approach where I was
really just trying to put my head down
and sort of get through school instead
of you know push through by myself but
then I came to the realization that I
can't do this by myself you know and I
need help and so that's one way but also
too I would start I started going to like
some you know of the events on campus
for African American students and when you go to these events you start to see the same
faces right and you
strike up a conversation with those
professors and you know talk about your
interest in what it is you except they
can't help you then of course they're going
to direct you to someone else
but I think opening yourself up and going to
those spaces that are safe right because
they're gonna be people there who are
there to help you and they want
to help you but my my advice would be to
go to those safe spaces because it's it's an open
environment there's other students who
are in the same situation you're in
right and you can you can meet those
students and it also provides a safe
space just to meet these professors and
they're very friendly you know. I mean
there are so many different spaces on
campus that can work in that way right
like the cross cultural center
you know you go there you see that there
are tons of different student
organizations for asian-american,
students, african american students latino students,
first gen students, you know that's a great place to start
student support services, the Black
Student Union. Yeah. Mesa Unida if you're latino
right.  Now talking about grad school
because you're not just a first gen
undergrad right you're earning your PhD
now and I'm curious about the journey
from being a first-generation undergrad
to getting the idea that you wanted to
go to graduate school how did that
happen?
Well initially that wasn't even on my
radar screen right it wasn't, I didn't
think about graduate school. My senior
year at Morehouse I had a couple
professors who were pushing me in that
direction but at that time I did not see
myself as a Professor as a person going to
get a PhD and I think my professors were
a little bit disappointed that I chose
not to go that route but there are also
some other things going on too. I was
burned out from undergrad you know I
wanted to to go out and make some money
and I wanted to travel right so I
wanted to study abroad to study abroad
in Japan initially I didn't have the
money I couldn't afford it but I had an
opportunity to go to Japan works as my
time to go so I wanted to go to Japan
and then I went to China I was supposed
to be for maybe six months a year turned
into like several years I got side tracked.
However many years later I revisited
that that that thought about graduate
school because I was working a job and I
realize that it was a dead end that I
couldn't go any further if I wanted to
stay in higher education with just you
know a bachelor's degree you know that I
had to go back to school and I went back
for my masters because I wasn't sure
about this PhD right I I that was a big
step right let's take a small step first
so I went back for a master's degree in
public administration but there is still
this this need to do more because I
still felt that even with the master's
degree if I wanted to stay in higher ed there was just a limit on what I could
do and what I wanted to do and living in
China at the time I have these questions
that I wanted to answer about Chinese
history particularly as a concerned the
relationship of african-americans to
China and so I started doing some
research and maybe I can do this and I
contacted a few people in my network who
were, who are professors and they were
very encouraging and actually a couple
of them
recommended some various universities
where they knew people and UCI was one of
those. You should talk to these people at UCI
and so I did that and you know we had
great conversation as well you should
apply
so I applied and it worked out and it worked out, and I don't regret my decision of
course there is a lot of trepidation
about can I do the work you know I've
been out of school for a very long time and I'm not just only a first gen but I'm also a
non-traditional graduate to do this well
you know so a lot of things were we're
really just sort of swimming in my head
about coming back to graduate school and
I finally just made the leap and I think
it was well worth it. So we follow a
similar path to graduate school you know
I did my undergrad degree I was
certified as a teacher I taught high
school for a decade then I did a
master's degree in taught for another
couple years and then finally took the
leap and did a PHD and I'm wondering if
there are maybe a lot of other first gen
students who are talented and maybe 
would enjoy the work and learning more
you know being a graduate student but
somehow think that you know people like
us first gen students people from
low-income families that we don't get to
go to graduate school right so taken
that non-traditional route is it's cool
you know it means that we're really
well-rounded people will get here and
that's that's a cool path for some
people but what would you say to UCI
first gen students who you know when
they hear about graduate school they
think oh yeah that's for other people
what would you say to them?
Well I think that the great thing that
needs to happen is that we need to
really push our students into thinking
that becoming a professor or getting an
advanced degree is always been a part of
our tradition there have always been for
me as an african-american there have always been african-american PHD's always been
african-americans who have been a part
of the university system
you know it in many different capacities
and so I think the first thing that I
would say to students is that you belong
you know you belong in this space this
is not a space just for other people this
is a space that you belong and I
think that mentoring helps a great
deal here because if you have professors
who are constantly telling you your
research is important what you're doing is
important your questions are important
you know you're smart you can do I mean
you are receiving all of this you know very
positive feedback about your place in in
the University space I think that goes a
long way for providing the confidence
that our students need to make that next
move into graduate school of course
there's nothing wrong with their brains
nothing wrong with their capacity their
ability to do the work it's there it's
all mentally just a matter of not being
confident right so I think that that
mentorship very early on from you know
freshman year saying OK pushing student
you can do this do this just pushing a
little bit and making them realize that
well I can do this you know I can do
really good work I can do really good
research I see that happening in a lot of 
departments. I attend some of the
Undergraduate Research Symposium on
campus and I'm amazed at what some of these
undergraduate students are doing and a
little bit jealous as well just like
well I wasn't doing that when I was an
undergrad so it's it's very refreshing
to see that and so I feel confident that
we are moving towards you know a
position where we're more students are
understanding that they can do this
research right that we can contribute to
academia
and I think we'll see more but I think
starting early on we have to really like
you said before you know when did you
realize you want to go to university we
have to make these students realize very
early on that oh you're going to graduate
school you know you're going and I'm gonna get you there and this is what you're going to do to
get there.  And that there's money for it even if you're from a low-income background and you're
working 20 hours a week to just buy your
Ichiban noodles right that that there are
there are funds to get people to
graduate school you need to talk to your
professors you need to talk to graduate
students like find graduate students who
are like you
yeah and ask them how they got there.  So
final thoughts are words of advice or
encouragement for our incoming first gen
students here at UC Irvine?  Take
advantage of your undergraduate years
it's gonna go by very quickly but set
goals for yourself
post those goals on a wall where you can
see them every day and at the end of the
day ask yourself have I done something
today that's driving me towards the
completion of those goals that I've set if
the answer is no, only you can really you
you can fool other people but you
can't fool yourself right if the answer
is no then you have to go back to the
table and work harder to figure out what
you're not doing it and make it happen
because no one's going to push you like you are going to
push yourself right so just take
advantage of these years to really work
towards some really concrete goals that are going to help you in the future. Alright, thanks Marketus.
Thank you appreciate it
