GRACE JOO
From left to right: William Hall, assistant professor of mathematics education, Alexander Spradlin, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Carrie Bullock Ben-Yisrael, academic coordinator and retention specialist for TRIO Student Support Services, and Laura Lavine, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology.
Speakers explained how change happens gradually
among first-generation, low-income and other underrepresented communities at a
panel discussion on Friday.
WSU’s Office of Access and Opportunity in the
Division of Student Affairs hosted the discussion panel called Celebrate &
Reflect: TRIO in Action at WSU, which is the second in a series.
Raymond Herrera, WSU assistant dean of the
graduate school, said TRIO is a federally funded program through the U.S.
Department of Education that provides people from underrepresented communities
access and opportunities to higher education.
Laura Lavine, WSU professor and chair of the
department of entomology, said she was a first-generation college student.
Lavine said her parents wanted her to go to
college because they saw education as a way out of working in a textile mill or
in the military.
“They really saw it as a way up and out,” she
said.
Lavine said her guidance counselor told her to go
to Lander University, which was in her town in South Carolina.
She said she graduated from Lander University and
a professor of hers suggested she go to graduate school.
Lavine said graduate school was not something she
considered but while she was getting her master’s degree at Clemson University
her peers encouraged her to keep going.
She said there was a lot of peer mentoring that
happened while she was in graduate school which led her to apply for doctorate
programs.
Carrie Bullock Ben-Yisrael, WSU academic
coordinator/retention specialist for TRIO SSS program, said her parents are
educators and she was not a first generation student.
Bullock Ben-Yisrael said in Virginia she had the
opportunity to attend a governor’s school for high school students.
She said
education was always a part of her life and she knew she was going to college
because her father was a band director at Virginia State University.
Bullock Ben-Yisrael said her guidance counselor suggested she go to Mount
Holyoke College.
She said going to
Mount Holyoke College was the biggest culture shock she had experienced.
There was more money there than she ever saw,
Bullock Ben-Yisrael said.
“I realized that the people back home … can
absolutely do this, they [just] didn’t have the resource,” she said.
Bullock Ben-Yisrael said she wanted to empower
people through their life’s journey.
Alexander Spradlin, WSU clinical assistant
professor in the department of psychology, said his parents emphasized the
value of education.
Spradlin said he didn’t do well at University of
California, Santa Barbara so he moved back home, got a job and went to
community college.
He said when he went to UC Santa Barbara he had a
friend who was a veteran and had PTSD from serving in Afghanistan which led him
to study psychology.
After studying at El Camino Junior College for a
year, Spradlin said he transferred to the local Cal State school where he built
connections with his professors.
He said seeing how the mentors were helping
students get into graduate school gave him a sense of purpose to help affect
change.
“I can’t help but see systems around us that are
stacked against certain people and stacked for people … like me,” Spradlin said.
He said he wants to help other people the same
way other people have helped him in the past.
William Hall, WSU assistant professor of
mathematics education, said he is a first-generation student who was helped by
TRIO programs in the past.
Hall said he hopes to help students at WSU the
same way others have supported him along the way.
He said he did not know what the college
experience would be like but that he knew he would go to college.
He was in high school when he was introduced to
the Upward Bound program.
It was through the work of other people that got
him where he is today, he said.
Bullock Ben-Yisrael said being first-generation
tends to overlap with being low income.
“You can’t create academic programs and think
they’re just going to pop in and fit in a system that has told them they are
not supposed to be there,” she said.
The students want an inclusive experience that is
supportive of them, she said.
Spradlin said giving students information on
where they can receive help and giving them additional support is important to
helping students succeed.
Partnering with Parents and Families of First Gen, which is
the third part of the series, happens from noon to 1:30 p.m. on April 23.