North Central Missouri College’s TRIO Student Support Services and First Gen Club will participate in the national First-Generation College Student Celebration on Monday, November 8th. They will host a First Gen Panel & Pizza lunch open to students, staff, faculty, and alumni at 2:00 p.m. on this date in Geyer Hall 103. Attendees will view a virtual Celebration Day Panel that includes inspirational stories of success and triumph of first-generation college graduates.
Led by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and the NASPA Center for First-Generation Student Success, the day is intended to celebrate the success and presence of first-generation college students, faculty, and staff on campuses across the country.
“Our first-generation students at NCMC take great pride in being the first in their families to pursue higher education,” said Tocarra Williams, Assistant Director of Student Support Services. “They come here nervous about what they don’t know about college and battle with self-doubt, but they have a deep drive to get that degree. It is a privilege to support them and watch them succeed.”
November 8th was selected as the date for the annual celebration to honor the anniversary of signing the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Higher Education Act (“HEA”) emerged out of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. The HEA was intended to help level a playing field that had been weighed against far too many Americans for far too long.
NCMC creates a culture of belonging and success for current and future first-generation college students. NCMC offers three TRIO programs to help first-generation and low-income students pursue higher education: Talent Search, Student Support Services (SSS), and Upward Bound (UB). Also new to campus, this fall, is a student-led First Gen Club—an inclusive club for first-generation college students and their friends at NCMC.
