Student Applications Now Open for First-Generation Mentoring Program

Dekarius Dawson, a senior vocal major from Memphis, Tennessee, is the first in his family to get a college education. He has been meeting regularly with music professor Timothy Thompson, who was also first-gen. They talk about all kinds of things: time management, Dekarius' post-graduation plans, music…It's a mentoring relationship with an organic feel, but the pair did not meet organically. They were brought together through the First-Generation Mentoring Program.

If you are the first in your family to go to college, you are not alone! First-generation college students make up almost 25 percent of the total U of A undergraduate population, and many faculty and administrators are also first in their family to attend college.

In the First-Generation Mentoring Program, sponsored by the Honors College, first-generation freshman and sophomore students will be matched with caring faculty. Through at least two meetings a semester, these faculty members can help students learn more about some or all of the topics below:

• Navigating the university in general
• Becoming more involved on campus
• Navigating a career path
• Exploring international education opportunities
• Becoming an honors student, if interested
• Finding an honors research mentor
• Balancing family/school/work
• Learning more about community engagement

This program is open to all freshmen and sophomores — both honors and non-honors students. However, space is limited, so students are encouraged to sign up soon. Students can apply using the First-Generation Mentoring Program Application.This form can also be accessed at firstgenmentoring.uark.edu. The deadline is Friday, Oct. 4, or when all spaces are filled, whichever comes first.

Students and faculty will be informed of their matches by email. The Honors College will subsequently hold an event where mentors and mentees can meet and mingle. You need not attend the Meet and Greet to be part of the program.

Signing up is easy — do it today! For more information contact Xochitl Delgado Solorzano (xdelgad@uark.edu), the Path Program director in the Honors College.