In recognition of the annual First-Generation College Celebration on November 8, Boise State and the College of Education profiled five outstanding first-generation students. Programs that support first-generation students at Boise State are housed in the College of Education’s Center for Multicultural Educational Opportunities (CMEO). This year’s featured students are listed next to the program they’re involved in. Read about each of this year’s selection of first generation students in their respective profiles.
- Monty Phipps-Gallegos, TRIO Rising Scholars
- Sadia Abdulkadir, TRIO Rising Scholars
- Yaira Hernandez, TRIO Upward Bound
- Roz Al Janabi, TRIO STEM Scholars
- Tionna Gardner, McNair Scholar
Monty Phipps-Gallegos
First-generation student Monty Phipps-Gallegos always knew he would pursue higher education. With a parent who graduated high school but didn’t attend college, and another who left school in 8th grade, Phipps-Gallegos often heard from his dad that he wanted his children to go farther than he did with education.
Phipps-Gallegos heard about TRIO Rising Scholars while looking at college scholarships. He embraced the program as he enrolled at Boise State to study psychology after considering becoming a combat medic.
Sadia Abdulkadir
Sadia Abdulkadir arrived in America with her family as a refugee from Kenya at four years old. Now a sophomore social work major at Boise State, she is the first in her family to fully commit to earning a bachelor’s degree.
Abdulkadir was inspired to become a social worker after volunteering in the Boise community as part of a high school club. Abdulkadir also found TRIO in high school, and when she heard about TRIO Rising Scholars at Boise State, she was excited to continue in a program she knew would help her become a successful college student.
Yaira Hernandez
Yaira Hernandez grew up in Mountain Home surrounded by cousins determined to become the first generation of college students in their families. Hernandez’s dad has an 8th grade education and her mom was married to her dad by the time she graduated high school, and though the family established a successful towing and auto repair business in Mountain Home, Hernandez was inspired by her cousins to go to college.
Following in her cousin’s footsteps, Hernandez came to Boise State and continued her education while receiving support from the TRIO STEM Scholars program.
Roz Al Janabi
Born during the Iraq war, Roz Al Janabi knew from a young age she wanted to be a doctor. Al Janabi’s mother gave birth to her without adequate sanitation and no anesthesia in an Iraqi maternity ward, as bombs went off nearby. Because of their experiences growing up during the war, Al Janabi and her older brother dreamed of being able to help people by entering the medical field.
Al-Janabi applied to TRIO STEM Scholars at Boise State as a Biology major with a minor in business, and where she serves other students as a peer mentor there and in the Honors College.
Tionna Gardner
Boise native Tionna Gardner embraced the McNair program at Boise State to help elevate her ambitions as a first-generation college student aspiring to become a doctor of psychology.
Gardner isn’t the only person in her family who was driven to be a successful college graduate at Boise State – her dad, LaMarco Gardner played football for the Broncos in the early 2000’s, but wasn’t able to finish his degree while being an athlete with two small kids. He returned in 2019 to finish his degree.