my name is avery cook I am a first
generation student at Ohio State
Mansfield we're trying to do everything
we can to encourage those first-year
first gen students they want to they
just don't know about the resources and
things as coordinator of academic
success I put out there for all students
that they can meet with me and we just
talked about like specific strategies
for a lecture class specific strategies
for any the classes they have we talked
about time management you know I'm
planning study time and those things
that they don't think about and then of
course I can direct them then to the
Conard Learning Center their advisors
Disability Services we have great
counselors on campus I lived with my mom
she she went to college but she only did
a year and then she dropped out I think
in some way there's a lot of pressure
because to actually finish college
because both of my parents didn't finish
college and they want me to succeed I've
been hearing this my entire life on how
it is important to succeed so I feel
pressured to succeed even though I want
it for myself as well
I have mentors and advisors and I go see
the counselor and I talked to Michelle
and disability services and they are
accommodated me where I
I come from a household where it's just
my dad my mom passed away  my family is really proud of me
for going and that's something that they
were they wanted for me since I was
little and so I guess for me it's just
like kind of making my family proud
like a smaller campus there's so many
like faculty here who will help you no
matter if it's their job or not and
they'll tell you who to go to if you
need help
my name is Osiris if you look at my
childhood half of it was an inner city
of Cleveland Ohio so I went to choose
two schools in Cleveland Ohio and then
the other half was in the suburbs and
moved to Shaker Heights so it was the
point of my life in high school I didn't
really care and I didn't even know if I
wanted to go to college so I wasn't
taking it as serious until my
senior year and I started taking things
more serious I feel like it's an opportunity to open the gate for the generation below me
my little cousins if they see that I can
be successful in Neymar's they want to
be successful you know it means
everything that I get to choose a
different rival compared to my mother my
father
everybody Charles you know I'm doing
something different we do have resources
we do have people we can talk to if
you're going through things you know we
do got food pantries just in case we
don't have food but we have everything
that a college needs to grow as students for me it's a privilege to be able to
congratulate them on being a
first-generation student because that's
a huge thing for their family you know
for them and then their family they
should be very proud of themselves
because I feel like those things that we
mentioned before they have some extra
hoops that they have to go through some
extra barriers so just getting themself
here and stepping through those things
it's a great accomplishment and so I I
think every first-generation student
should be celebrated
