Hi I'm Dan Saveliff, I'm the Executive Director
of EOP and TRiO programs here on campus. And
I want to share my second story about being
first gen. Ah, that I graduated in 1985 and
was lucky enough to stumble into my career
field and decided to advance on in regard
to my responsibilities and get a masters degree.
So off I went to a masters program and when
I graduated the second time as a first gen
student different than the first time I walked
across the stage and there at the end of the
stage was the next generation of my family
so i'm sharing a picture here this is all
my nieces and all my nephews and my children
and among this litter of children my all three
of my kids will have a degree, a bachelors
degree by the end of this year. So two already
graduated and I have a niece who is graduated
and my nephew there the tall boy in the middle
is also a graduate. So, I share this just
in seeing them and them cheering me for having
accomplished my second degree made me pause
and made me realize wow this isn't just about
me it's about the next generation and becoming
a role model for venturing on. So when you
earn your degree and it wont be just for you
it will be for the generations to come. And
it made me realize the distance that I had
traveled from my own generational history
of ah my great grand parents who were all
immigrants to this country and they were all
agricultural workers then became factory workers
and then now were all professionals. So that
period of growth happened just in three generations
and it's an incredible journey to be on. So,
I guess my second tip is you can change your
own opportunity and in changing your own opportunity
change the life opportunities of people who
follow you.
