Erin Van Daalwyk provides perspective to ‘Strengthening the Culture of Pride and Support for First-gen Students’

“In May 1970, a student-organized election voted the Phoenix as the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. A mythical creature, the Phoenix is associated with strength, balance, and resilience. When students voted to select this mascot, they likely did not know how important the characteristic of resilience would become to the identity of UW-Green Bay. UW-Green Bay students largely identify with this spirit of resilience, and institutionally, the University strives to teach all students to embrace this resilient spirit through problem solving, collaboration, and leaning into our collective strengths.As of the fall 2020, 44% of UW-Green Bay students on our four campuses (Green Bay, Manitowoc, Marinette and Sheboygan) self-identified as first-generation college students. We are striving to help strengthen recognition of this identity and the culture of pride and support on all our UW-Green Bay campuses as part of the University’s strategic planning to better serve first-generation college students. UW-Green Bay offers programs and services exclusively designed to support first-generation students like an upper-division student/alumni mentoring program, first-generation student Living Learning Community (LLC), and many services geared towards meeting first-generation student needs like Gateways to Phoenix Success (GPS).”

Erin A. Van Daalwyk, M.Ed., University of Wisconsin-Green Bay / The Center / April 20, 2022 for the Center for First-Gen Success.

See more at the source: Strengthening the Culture of Pride and Support for First-gen Students