MAN: So how many of
you guys in here are
first generation college
students? How many of us here?
AUDIENCE: Woot!
MAN: Good chunk of us, right?
Round of applause.
That's awesome.
[applause]
MAN: So I understand, Nina, that
you are as well, are a
first generation
college student.
I wonder if maybe you could talk
a little bit about that and kind
of what that's
been in your life.
NINA: Thank you. Yeah, I am first generation college.
My dad and mom met at community
college, and my dad, he
eventually went to work
for the government.
And they were like, you don't
need any more education.
You're fine.
And my mom became a mom. So
she dropped out of college.
And back then, the point to
go to college was sometimes
to meet a man. So she accomplished that.
She got her Mrs.
and quit [chuckles].
But my parents always
thought that college was
an important thing.
It wasn't important enough
to save money to pay for me
to go to college!
So from community college
on, I paid for everything.
But I did eventually get
Department of Rehabilitation.
So they paid for my
undergrad, but then
I went on for my Doctorate.
That's what I pay money
on every single month now.
[audience laughs]
And I think being first
generation college,
sometimes my parents just
kind of magically thought that
papers wrote themselves.
And they would be like, "You
know, we have this thing.
We have a family thing."
We're Italian. So there's
family stuff all the time.
There's lots of extended family.
And they're like, "You know,
there's a baptism on Saturday,
and you really have to go."
And I'm all, "Ugh, I have a
lot of stuff I have to do."
And it's like, you had
to do that, and you had
to meet your
family obligations.
Meanwhile, especially when I was
in my Doctorate program, I had a
lot of people who were like,
"Oh, yes. You just have to
have boundaries, and you just
have to tell your family 'no'."
I was like, "Yeah, no. I'm
Italian. That doesn't work"
[laughs]
