Northwest Missouri State University’s Academic Success and Retention unit and TRIO, along with collaboration and assistance from various departments on campus, will host a campus-wide celebration of first-generation students on Thursday, November 8.

The come-and-go event will begin at 3:15 pm and conclude at 4:30 pm in the JW Jones Student Union Boardroom with a short program at 3:30 pm. All Northwest students and employees are invited to attend.

Other events are planned throughout the week, including a photo booth on the first floor of the Student Union between 11 am and 2 pm now through Wednesday, November 7, for first-generation students, faculty and staff. Visitors will have an opportunity to have their photo with a variety of signs recognizing their status as first-generation.

At Northwest, more than 32 percent of undergraduates are first-generation students; 39 percent of the university’s fall 2018 freshmen are first-generation students.

“The success and engagement of first-generation students is incredibly important to Northwest,” Allison Hoffmann, Northwest’s director of academic success and retention, said. “They account for a large portion of our enrollment, and we are committed to ensuring we provide the necessary services and resources to ensure first-generation students are supported at the highest level.”

Northwest’s celebration coincides with a nationwide initiative sponsored by the Council for Opportunity for Education and the Center for First-generation Student Success to recognize first-generation students. Their second annual First-Generation College Celebration marks the 53rd anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Higher Education Act, which has helped millions of people become the first members of their families to earn college degrees.

“Millions of students who have benefitted from the programs created by the Higher Education Act have subsequently helped shape our country as astronauts, judges, scientists, politicians, scholars, writers, business leaders and more,” COE President Maureen Hoyler said. “We saw great success with the 2017 celebration and it’s especially important to continue recognizing these accomplishments because, even in 2018, campuses and communities can overlook the academic capabilities that lie dormant within so many first-generation students.”